95 



.:'/;. 



165 ^=^ 



jLL 



•'oal Feeding and Animal Digestion, 

A TEXT ROOK 

FOR 



"-^^ 



SEOonsriD EiDiTioisr. 



By LINUS W. MILLER, 

AviJior of Notes of an Exile. Design of Creation. 



Pnblisliecl by request of t.lie 

AMERICAN DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION, 

fiefore whom it was ilelivoved Mnrcli 14th, 1875. 



Frioe Fitty Cents. 

Address L. W. MILLER. Stockton, New Yokk, or M. L. MILLER, 
ICM Broadway, new York. 

27ie usual discounts ttiade to the Trade, 



Chautauqua Farmer Steam Print, Forestville, N. Y. 



Feedinff and Animal Digestion, 

A.DDRESSES 



Delivered before the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania 

State Dairymen's Association, at Meadville, Pa., 

January and December, 1875. 



ALSO 



Before the Tenth Annual Convention of the American Dairy- 
men's Association, at Utica, NewYork, January 14, (which 
Convention, by Resolution, Requested the Author to 
. Publish it in Pamphlet Form). 



With an Addendum, Giving Instructions for the Practical 
Applicaiion ef the Principles Elucidated. 



A 2'ext !Soo/cfo7' all w?iO F'eed Conde?ised J^ood^ 



By LINUS W. MILLER. 



(Author of Notes of an Exile, on Canada, England, and VjmDieqiaii'sCOA/ 
Land, Design of Creation, etc.) /AS- rO?^^\at} 



DE PROFUNDI 8. V?>>, IQT'r. 

SECOND JCDITION REVISED, ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. 

Stockton, N. Y., August, 1877. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, A. D. 1877, by LINUS W. MILLER, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



PREFACE 

TO THE 

SECOND EDITION. 



The riipid stile of the first edition of "Meal Feeding 
AND Animal Digestion," the favorable comments by the 
Agricultural Press of the country upon its merits as a 
valuable contribution to agricultural science, and above 
all other considerations, the uniform testimony ot those 
who have practically tested the new system of wintering 
stock in its favor, not only as very economical, but as 
followed by a marked and very important increased milk 
production in dairy cows, are the chief reasons why the 
author is induced to offer a new, enlarged, and revised 
edition of his unpretending work to the Public. He is 
impressed with the full and mature conviction that as 
soon as the merits of this new system are recognized as 
facts, it will be generally adopted, not only by dairymen 
and herdsmen, but by every man who keeps a cow for 
milk, in town, city or country; and believingMts general 
adoption will add an immense sum annually to the 
wealth of the country, he regards it as a sacred duty 
which he owes to the world in which he lives, to agitate 
the subject of meal feeding in every proper way, and by 
all available means, until the prejudices which impede 
its progress are overcome. If it had been possible for 
ridicule, malice and abuse to put down this new system, 
it would have been thoroughly done. History repeats 
itself Meal feeding will ])rove no exception. As far as 



it is based upon facts it will signally triumph over all 
opposition. Upon facts the author rests his case, re- 
spectfully inviting the unbelieving to tests ox his sj^stem. 
The reader will find in this edition a correction of the 
popular error that meal and other fine food passes di- 
rectly into the fourth stomach of ruminating animals. 
The adoption of this popular error was the chief fault of 
the first edition of "Meal Feeding and Animal Diges- 
tion." The anthor flatters himself that he has done his 
share towards settling this dispute concerning the use of 
the several stomachs of the order of animals classed as 
Ruminantia. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Millions of dollars are uiidoiibtedlj wasted every year, 
both in this country and Europe, by injudicious feeding 
of concentrated food to our domestic animals. This as- 
sertion may perhaps be deemed extravagant, by the ad- 
vocates of the old theories; but time alone is needed to 
demonstrate its truth. 

A better understanding of the digestive powers and 
capacities of our ruminating stock, and the adaptation 
of certain kinds of food to produce certain results, alone 
is needed to work a revolution in our whole manap-e- 
ment of feeding, not dairy stock alone for a few winter 
weeks, as some liave supposed, but in the use of fine food 
at all times and under all circumstances. Every man 
who feeds for the production cf beef, keeps a dairy or a 
single cow, in town, city or country, should understand 
the general principles of animal digestion, as he is liable 
to throw away his money without knowing it. 

He who attentively studies the principles of this un- 
pretending work, will need no a])ology from the author 
for the importance which he attaches to it; and he who, 
from whatever cause, chooses to follow the old beaten 
track of his fathers, as it is his undoubted right to do, 
has no business to exact any. The intense interest man- 
ifested both at Meadville and Utica upon this subject of 
meal feeding, vv^here large numbers of earnest practical 
men from various sections v/ere congregated, and their 
acquiescence in the general principles laid down in the 
Address, is a guarantee of the ripeness of the public 
mind for the recei^tion of truth, no matter what may be- 



6 

come of old theories. "This would have stived me one 
thousand dollars lust winter, had I known and practiced 
it," was said to the Jiuthor by three different persons af- 
ter the reading of the Address; whiles score named 
smaller sums, ranging from one hundred dollars up- 
wards, as the measure of beneiit which it would have 
conferred upon them. When, in addition to the exigen- 
cies of short hay crops, we take into consideration the 
daily waste of meal and other fine food, at all seasons of 
everj^ 3'ear, in the production of milk and beef, the mag- 
nitude of the interest involved in the aggregate is as- 
tounding ! Certainly, it is high time that this question 
is better understood. Personal considerations are of lit- 
tle moment, when such general interests are weighed in 
the balance; but the author claims the right to say, in 
this connection, that if in errror as regards the applica- 
tion of any of the principles laid down in this little work, 
no on^ can mourn so deeply as himself. The world is 
full enough of error and false theories already; and his 
chief ambition is to bear some humble part in their cor- 
rection. 

The criticisms and strictures which have appeared in 
the agricultural and secular press of the country with 
reference to ''feeding meal alone^ if collated would com- 
prise quite a volume; and would be chiefly interesting 
as showins: the want of correct knowledcre as to the real 
principles involved, and the absurdities of the old theo- 
ry as based upon hulk, and woody fibre. From a mass of 
strictures, in some of which threats of prosecution under 
the statute to prevent cruelty to animals is directly hint- 
ed, two or three of the most moderate are herewith given 
as a matter of history. 

NEVER FEED MEAL ALONE. 

Fine meal, we know, is nluch more valuable than 
coarse meal, but farmers do not reach the true reason 
for the disturbance in the digestive system of the cow 
from feeding coarse meal. The scouring is caused by 
feeding the meal alone or unmixed with hay or other 



coarse food, which would carry it to the first stomach. 
When meal is fed alone it goes directly to the fourth or 
digesting stomach, and not having had the macerating 
process of the first stomach and re-mastication and mixed 
with saliva, it is not in a fit condition for the action of 
the fourth stomach, and will cause scouring, whether fine 
or coarse, although very fine meal will cause less dis- 
turbance than coarse, because the finer particles are 
more easil}' dissolved by the digesting fluid, and thus 
more readilj^ assimilated; but nature intended all the 
food of ruminating animals to have tlie macerating pro- 
cess of the whole series of stomachs. 

FEEDING MEAL TO COWS. 

^ds. Country Gentleman: 

In 3'our last issue (March 19th), Reader, in his article 
on winter feed for cows, nuikes the following assertion: 
Harris Lewis gravely informed the people of this coun- 
try that ''all the meal thev were feedino; to cows was be- 
ing thrown away." This may be a correct quotation 
from some one of the published reports, and it may be 
what I said. I would ask Reader, however, if I did not 
say that I believed the dairymen of Chautauqua county 
were feeding corn meal at a loss, and that much of it was 
thrown away ? I am ready to accept Reader's under- 
standing of what I did say, and will not deny anything 
people charge me with. 

Reader then goes on to state that the farmers are go- 
ing to determine the relative value of different kinds of 
feed for wintering dairy cows. This is just the thing I 
have often urged dairymen to do, and I rejoice that any 
man has the independence to step out of the beaten track, 
as Mr. L. W. Miller has done in this matter. I also re- 
joice that Reader has opened his eves to some rays of 
light which have changed his opinions, similar to those 
of mine, which he used to hold in regard to the value of 
corn meal and corn fodder for cows. 

If Mr. Miller's experiments with corn meal do not put 



8 

his profits for the coming season, and his cows, also, in 
about the same predicament that the dairymaid's chick- 
ens were in when counted so long before being hatched, 
I shall again rejoice. If Mr. Miller's corn meal diet 
proves just the food for dairy cows, it will settle one 
thing forever, viz., that the very best corn lands are 
above all others tlie lands for dairying, for we cannot on 
the best grass lands in the United States, north or south, 
east or west, keep dairy cows for six and a quarter cents 
per day, on grass or hay, or. both, the year through. The 
cost of keeping a dairy cow at the west, on ten cent corn 
meal, would be so near nothing that it w^ould be hardly 
worth naming. If I can keep a dairy cow well on corn 
meal, I will sell or give away my grass farm, and go west. 

Harris Lewis. 

the meal theory. 

The meal theory of L. W. Miller ot Stockton, by a cor- 
respondent of Country Gentleman, is hit off as follows: 
''I have known a cow to increase in milk by feeding a 
moderate quantity of Indian meal at regular periods, in 
addition to other food. But when you talk of feeding a 
cow three j)ints of dry meal in the morning, and three 
pints at night, and no other fodder, ^'with very little" 
water, of course there must be some screw loose in the 
statement. Why, there are some men who would use 
about as much food as that. The six pints would weigh 
about five pounds (the actual weight is about four lbs). 
Indian meal has about Q^ per cent, of fat forming food 
and 11 per cent, of muscle forming substance. Good hay 
has about 36 per cent, of the former, and 13 per cent, of 
the latter. Ten pounds of good hay would be more than 
equal to the six pints of meal. Yet who ever heard of 
keeping a good cow on ten pounds daily of hay ? — to say 
nothing of the "very little" water ! 

FEEDING MEAL. 

The Utica Herald notices the report of the experiment 
jpeing made by Linus W. Miller of Stockton, on feeding 



9 

meal alone, and accompanies the report with the follow- 
ing remarks: 

The feeding of finelj^ ground corn meal to dairy cows 
is now being widely considered. Dairymen in this re- 
gion are now feeding more meal than ever before. The 
question to be determined is, whether this nutritive ma- 
terial is in a form unsuited to the full exercise of the di- 
gestive functions, and consequently, likely to waste its 
nourishing qualities through imperfect digestion. That 
it is an unnatural food, that it slips untouched through 
part of the digestive machinery of the animal, is claimed 
by some of our most intelligent dairymen. On. the other 
hand, there are many men who feed meal, and think 
they do so with profit and with good results to the 
aninuil. 

We are glad that Mr. Miller is making the experiment 
which is described above. We have little faith in his 
proving that meal is a perfect and sufHcient food; for if 
his cows maintain their bodies on meal alone, they will 
perform several creative acts, and creation is not vested 
in the animal economy. There are materials in the tis- 
sues of the body which do not exist in corn meal.* Thev 
are not present in it in any shape nor form, consequent- 
ly the transforming power of the animal cannot act, for 
it has no material to work over. Again, Mr. Miller is 
operating in the face of well established beliefs, that a 
single food is not suitable for nuiintaining the health and 
strength of the animal for any great length of time. 
That Mr. Miller has so far proceeded in his war against 
nature, that he has succeeded in doing away with rumi- 
nation in his herd, will startle those who believe in the 
strict utility of natural processes. But though w^e are 
forced to sympathize with Mr. Miller's cows, we hope he 
will pursue his experiment to the end. We have almost 
as little faith in his success as in anythiniy we mio-lit 
mention. Feeding meal alone is very different from 
feeding meal together with more diffuse food. We be- 

*What are they? — Author. 



10 

lieve that meal fed properly will do good service, im- 
parting richness to the product and fullness to the tbriu, 
but a food which leads the cow to forget the cunning of 
her natural machinery, must seem at the outset to be 
prejudicial to health and prr)fitable increase. Neverthe- 
less we shall watch Mr. Miller's progress with much in- 
terest and attention. 



MEAL ONLY FOR COWS. 

A^l^. Comiti'y Gentlemmi : 

I observe that the statement of Mr. L. W. Miller rela- 
tive to the keeping cows on meal alone, is attracting 
some attention, and deservedly so. I cannot help re- 
gretting that so preposterously ^d)surd an idea, as that 
cattle can be maintained in health for months together, 
on nothing but a few quarts of corn meal a day, should 
be put forth as worthy of trial. The stomach of the bo- 
vine is intended by nature to receive a large mass of 
moderately nutritious food, and it is oidy when it is 
properly tilled, that the animal can experience the sen- 
sation of comfort so essential to health. If Mr. Miller 
will try the experiment on himself, being contented with 
three meals a day, each to consist of a single meat loz- 
enge or a teaspoonful of concentrated beef tea, he will 
experience much the same sensations as Ins unfortunate 
cows." 1 cannot, however, regard the -statement as any- 
thing; but a hoax. Any one accustomed to cattle knows, 



* Mr. Miller, along with about ninety other political prison- 
ers, for the oft'ense of tryino^ to give a responsible government 
to his friends in Canada, suffered the gnaicings of hunger on a 
very empty stomach for years, in Van Dieman's Land, under 
British rule; and he can tell L. B. L. a tale of horrible suffer- 
ing, usurpation and cruelty^ that should nuike a savageblush for 
shame! Mr. Miller has no taste for starving even dumb animals, 
much less his fellow men; and if L. B. L. had ever suffered a 
a little of" what those unfortunate prisoners endured, he would 
not wondei- nor take any exceptions to the severity of this note. 



11 

thiit the excessive use oi* meal invariably results in diar- 
rhoea or dysentery, if long persisted in; and that unless 
a proper proportion of coarse feed, such as hay, straw or 
grass is used, the health of the animal is sure to give 
way. I think the statement in question will be accepted 
by none but "the marines." 

L. B. L. 
Sherbrooke, P. Q., Canada. 



Meal Feeding and Animal 
Digestion. 



i 



Gentlemen of the AmeTicmi Dairymenh Association' : 

I shfiU confine my remarks mostly to feeding Indian 
meal to dairy stock, when dry, and to their digestion of 
coarse and fine food. Certain practices of my own in 
wintering my cows, having attracted much attention and 
not a little criticism, I suppose you will expect me to ex- 
plain those practices. Sixteen years ago, happening to 
mention to a gentleman of my acquaintance that I was 
short of hay for wintering my stock, he informed me tliat 
he had wintered his cow upon three ])ints of scalded 
meal, keeping in stall all winter, and watering by hand, 
and he assured me she came through in good condition, 
and yielded a fair product of milk that season. Seizing 
upon this hint of my friend I ventured to place my herd 
of twenty cows, having first dried them off, upon an ex- 
clusive meal diet, feeding an average of three pints, dry, 
morning and evening, giving the large cows a little more, 
and the small ones a little less; keeping them in warm, 
clean, properly ventilated stables, and only turning them 
out one-half hour each day for water. They were uneasy 



13 

the first three or four days of meal diet; but after that 
had the appearance of unusual quiet and content. I am 
confident their rations were ample to satisfy the wants of 
nature, and that they did not lose flesh. The experiment 
would have been more valuable if they could have been 
weighed at the commencement and end of meai feeding. 

In the spring when they began to drop their calves, 1 
fed them all the hay they would eat in the morning and 
two quarts of meal at m'ght. But they showed a decided 
preference for meal over hay. The calves dropped were 
of the usual size, strong and healthy and gave no indica- 
tion of a deficiency of proper and essential elements in 
the food of the mother. When upon exclusive meal diet 
— a period of nine weeks that season — rumination ceased 
when they had no longer any food to remasticate. Oc- 
casionally one would refuse her meal. It was my cus- 
tom to administer a tablespoonful of dissolved copperas 
on such occasions, and a restoration of appetite followed. 
When the weather was very stormy 'they were kept in 
and supplied with water by hand. The amount of wa- 
ter drank at such times was surprisingly small, varying 
from one quart, in rare cases, to eight or ten per cow each 
day. I think they would not avei-age to exceed five 
quarts. Although accustomed to eating a daily ration 
of salt during the summer, they showed but little incli- 
nation to eat it on meal. But when again fed upon hay 
they at once resumed consuming the usual quantities of 
water and salt. I made more than the usual quantity of 
spring butter that season, and when turned out to grass, 
my cows did better than 1 had ever known them before, 
when wintered in the usual way. 

After this experience, whenever short of hay, I resort- 
ed to meal, feeding in as many winters, five, seven and 
eio'ht weeks and ahvavs with the most satisfactory re- 
suits; my cows when turned out to grass invariably do- 
ing better than when wintered on hay, both as to quantity 
of milk and a tendency to lay on flesh. In the season of 
1873-4, my hay cro]) was unusually short, and what corn 



14 

fodder I had was badly damaged by frost, feeding which, 
in early winter, my stock were in unusually poor flesh 
when 1 commenced feeding meal on the 1st of January. 

The result of my experiment I condense Irom a com- 
munication over my signature, published in the Chua- 
tauqua FaTrner in August last. 

"The records of the factory where I send my milk, 
show an aggregate of 531 cows. There are three herds 
of cows giving as much, or more than my own the pres- 
ent season — one of them nearly two pounds more daily; 
])ut the last sale of cheese of which I have a record, being 
the make of sixteen days, from June lOth to 26th, cred- 
its my herd with giving two pounds fifteen ounces each 
per diem more than the average of the whole 531. My 
herd was selected with reference to making butter, npt 
cheese, and I have never regarded them as great milk- 
ers; they averaged twenty-seven pounds per diem, tV>r 
the sixteen days' sale. 

In 1872-'73, I wintered my herd upon hay. They 
came through in good condition, and were fed during 
the spring months with two quarts of meal daily, and all 
the hay they would eat. In 1873-'74 I fed for nine 
weeks (while dry) three quarts of meal; then what hay 
they would eat and two quarts of meal, for three weeks; 
then bean vines and meal, for two weeks, losing one of 
my best cows in the operation of feeding bean vines, and 
setting the whole herd scouring badly and losing flesh. 
Then I did what I have never done before to cows giving 
nn'lk. I fed during the rest of the spring before turning 
out to pasture, on clear meal, a period of about five 
weeks, giving five quarts of wet meal daily to those giv- 
ing milk. Under this treatment they did well, and al- 
though the flow of milk was less than when fed on hay, 
its quality was excellent, and the butter superior. The 
bean vine butter, however, was poor. 

I fiiul, by the factory records, that my cows are giving 
five pounds of milk each, per diem, more than they gave 
during tlie corresponding period last season, when win- 



15 

tered on hay. But with this difference in their treat- 
ment. This season my hill pasture has been very short 
during the entire season thus far. although I am carry- 
ing four head of stock less than last year, and I have in 
conse<pience fed about three quarts of dry. bran, per 
head, to my herd daily. 1 do not think, however, that 
this bran would make up the deficiency in pasture as 
compared with last season. 

I fed, last winter, white western meal instead of yel- 
low native corn of my ow^n growing, as heretofore. White 
Indian corn contains only a fraction of one per cent, of 
oil, w^hile yellow contains nearly four per cent. There 
was a marked difference in its effects from anything I 
have ever seen while feeding yellow meal. The hair first 
began to look and feel stiff and harsh, then the skin be- 
came drv, with the appearance of scurvy, after about six 
weeks feeding; and finally some of the herd actually 
broke out with small blotches along the back and sides. 
I understood perfectly well that a small quantity of lin- 
seed oil cake, fed with the meal, would correct all this, 
and make white meal equal to yellow; but the eyes of 
the whole country were upon me, predicting failure, ruin 
find starvation to my cows, and I chose to run the risk 
of consequences, without any variation from what was 
advertised; but I shall n-ever feed white meal exclusively 
again, without adding to it something to supply the defi- 
ciency of oil. Hereafter I intend to winter my cows,when 
<lry, upon meal, when 1 can get it, in preference to hay." 

At the closp! of the season, having fed no bran or extra 
feed since the 20th of August, I find, by factory returns, 
that my cows averaged a fraction less than 20 pounds 
per diem for the season of five months — May 19th to Oc- 
tober 19th — being 1 j)ound 3 ounces each, per diem, more 
than the average of the 531 cows whose milk was sent to 
the factory, and an average of four and a quarter pounds 
each per diem more than they gave for the correspon ding- 
season, the previous year, when wintered on hay. I had 
also two cases of abortion in mv herd — the result of acci- 



(^lents — having but one the previous year. The condi- 
tions were more than ordinarily unfavorable; but the 
results were, to say the least, a demonstration of the 
adaptation of an exclusive meal diet to meet the wants 
of my animals under the conditions enumerated. An- 
other result of meal feeding I find to be a tendency to 
lay on flesh more readily than when wintered in the 
usual manner. I am also satisfled that my herd hold 
their age better, and that their teeth last longer; the rea- 
sons for which are apparent. What the effect would be 
if wintered continuously for consecutive years on con- 
densed food I am not able to say, never having tested it. 
But looking to my own profit, as a dairyman, I propose 
hereafter to feed my cows when dry upon an exclu- 
sive meal diet, and also to feed more freely on this arti- 
cle during the spring months. My practice has been to 
make the change from hay to meal and vice versa sud- 
denly without gradation, and thus far it has been with 
safety; yet prudence might dictate a gradual change 
when returning to hay; and also care in supplying the 
animal with the necessary (piantity of water for moisten- 
ing the coarse food. If cows could be wjitered in their 
stalls, whether fed on meal or hay, in cold weather, and • 
their stables kept warm and clean, taking caie to curry 
daily at such times, there would be a great saving in 
food. I would not wish to be understood as laying down 
the rule that a daily ration of three quarts of meal is 
sufficient in all cases. Large cattle would require more, 
and small less. He who feeds meal exclusively should 
watch his animals closely, and variations be made in the 
quantity according to circumstances. In very cold wea- 
ther the animal requires more food, no matter what its 
nature may be, than in warm pleasant days. The prac- 
tice of turning out animals in the cold and storms to l)e- 
come chilly, is neither humane nor economical. Regu- 
larity in the hour of feeding is also of great importance, 
whatever the food. It is a law of animal life that the 
appetite conforms to habit, and that the digestion of food 
will be more perfect if taken at stated intervals. Where 



17 

food of any kind is kept constantly witln'n reacli of an 
animal, it is tempted to eat more than nature requires, 
and much more than can be properly digested. In feed- 
ing meal, whether alone or diluted with coarse food, it is 
absolutely imperative that it should be ground as fine as 
for family use; and if from white corn, on an exclusive 
meal diet, a small quantity of oil meal cr cotton seed 
meal should be mixed with it. 

As to the economy of meal feeding, much dei)ends up- 
nii the respective prices of corn and, hay. The pi-esent 
season corn is high, and hay can be liad at a reasonable 
figure; but when the conditions are reversed, the balance 
sheet, leaving out the question of increased products, is 
decidedly in favor of meal. Our farming lands should 
average fifty bushels of corn to the acre, and our mead- 
ows two tons of hay in ordinary seasons. One bushel of 
corn should last an average sized cow twelve days, when 
dry. P^ifty bushels should keep twenty cows thirty days, 
where the product of an acre in hay would barely suffice 
for ten days. The question of labor woidd vary the i-esult, 
as well as the value of the manure. I do not claim tlie 
facts which I have related as a complete demonstration 
of the superiority of meal over hay lT»r winter feeding of 
dairy stock. The known difference in the product of 
cows in different seasons, without any perceptible cause, 
renders all detached experiments to a certain extent un- 
reliable. When, however, whole herds show an inci'eased 
product, it is safe to attribute the change to tlie causes 
specified. An experimental farm, like those so ably con- 
ducted in Germany, where careful experiments could be 
conducted for a series of years, testing the relative value 
of all kinds of food for the production of milk, and tlie 
accumulation of flesh and various other desiderata is 
nnich to be desired. IN^evertheless some propositions 
have been proved, and some theories exploded, whicli 
were regarded as axioms only one year ago; as that ru- 
mination is not essential to health in the ruminatia; tliat 
it is only natural when made necessary from feeding 
coarse food; that condensed food ma^• be ie<] profitably. 



IS 

and in perfect harmony with nature's laws, without be- 
ino- dihited with coarse food; that hulJc in food is not ad- 
vaTitageous, but the contrary; that nutriment in food, and 
not bulk, governs the condition and health of the animal; 
and that condensation of nutriment, and not expansion, 
is true economy. 

Following in the track of this advanced step, are re- 
sults of vast importance to the dairying interests of the 
world. The terror of short hay crops, and famine prices, 
are among the things of the past. By planting more 
corn, we can keep more cows on our farms; and our 
l)rethren in the great corn growing regions ot the west, 
nuiy confidently anticipate an increased denumd, and 
enhanced price for their great staple product. A few re- 
marks upon the digestion of ruminants, and I have done. 

Gentlemen, nature has made no mistakes. Her laws 
are the perfection of wisdom. Design is inscribed in 
characters of living light upon all her varied pages. The 
primitive rocks, not less than alluvial soils, bear the stamp 
of royal laws, harmoniously working out the great prob- 
lem of existence. The lowest forms ot vegetable and an- 
imal life are but links of the great chain, stretching from 
Silurian periods down through interminable ages to the 
present day. Adaptation to surrounding circumstances, 
and to the exigencies of life, are clearly discernible in 
every phase and grade of theaninud and vegetable king- 
doms. A creature of such vast importance to man as 
the ruminant, would be an exception in nature, placed, 
as she is, in latitudes where nuiHgmint aiul blighting 
frosts and drouths, so frequently cut short vegetation, if 
she was not fitted to live and thrive, in spite of such ad- 
verse surroundings. Her four stonuichs ai-e a wonderful 
adaptation to her wants and necessities under difl[erent 
conditions. In the calf, living upon its mother's milk, we 
find but slight development of the stomachs used upon 
coarse food. This fact is important, as showing that con- 
centrated food is not unnatural to the ruminant; com- 
])lete digestion and assimilation certainly takes place; 
proving that all the conditions of life are fulfilled in this 



19 

order of animals, independent of the use and functions 
of the 1st, 2d and 3d stomachs. Pardon the digression, 
in remarking, in this connection, that calves should never 
be suddenly weaned, but the change from milk or con- 
centrated food, to grass should be gradual; giving time 
for the gradual development of the necessary machinery 
for preparing grass, and other coarse food, for digestion 
and assimilation. 

In the full developed ruminant, welind grass, hay and 
all coarse food, after slight mastication in the mouth, 
passing into the cesophagean canal or passage on the 
floor or bottom ot which are two doors or openings, the 
iirst of which receives all coarse food, and as much wa- 
ter, when the animal drinks, as is required to moisten it. 
This opens into the first stomacli or paunch, which is, so 
to speak, the animal's storehouse; and which, when herb- 
age is abundant, she soon fills, and is prepared, or rather 
inclined, from its bulk and weight, to lie down and at 
leisure finish the work which the non-ruminant is com- 
pelled to do as it eats. This storehouse has an opening 
into the reticulum or second stomach, and by muscular 
action forces, in small quantities, its contents into it, 
where, also by muscular force, it is formed into pellets 
or cuds, and forced through a valve which opens up- 
ward, (but never downward) into the cesophagean canal; 
where, by muscular action, it is forced back to the mouth. 
Here, at its leisure, the animal remasticates it until it be- 
comes so softened and pulverized, that in the second act 
of swallowing, it passes the lli'st opening, or door, where, 
in its coarser state, it forced its passage before; passes 
the door of the second stomach, which is always closed 
to food in its downward passage, and enters near the ter- 
mination of the cesophagean canal, the door of the tliird 
stomach. This is the popular theory, but from recent ex- 
periments elsewhere related, it is shown to be an error. 
Thus far the food has been only chewed aiul softened; 
but here it is ground. Duplicatures, of the coatings of 
the stomach are here suspended from the oesophagus, 
which seize upon the food as it enters, and by muscular 



20 

action, file tind grind all the coarse parts so that nothing 
solid or librous escapes them. 

From the third it passes directly to the fourth stomach, 
where true digestion begins. The gastric juice here se- 
creted has the power of converting it into a mass called 
chyme, from which it is changed to chyle. The action 
of the digestive juices and glands in converting it into 
milk, blood, aiul from blood into fat, flesh, bone, mus- 
cles, hair, &c., has as yet never been satisfactorily dem- 
onstrated. 

Modern investigations go to show, however, that slight 
chemical changes only take place in the. food, or the ele- 
ments composing it, but rather a mechanical change, dis- 
integrating such substances or compounds as the aninuil's 
wants recpiire, leaving that which is worthless to be ex- 
]>elled: and that not only ruminants but the whole ani- 
mal kingdom, are endowed by nature with organs, whose 
ofiice it is to seize upon the elements required, generally, 
l)ut not always, in solution in the form of chyle or blood, 
and with unerring certainty convey them to their desti- 
nation. 

In other words we say nature is conservative of her 
forces; and in the great chain of life, stretching from the 
low^est vegetable growth up to man, she appropriates, 
with the least possible change, the material of the lower 
to build up and perfect the higher. It is true that na- 
ture's laboratory is innuense, and her power unlimited, 
but for that reason we must not charge her with being 
wasteful. Even cellulose (excepting crude) is not de- 
stroyed, but passing through the process of digestion is 
found deposited in the frame of the eater just, or at least 
nearly, as it was before mastication in the article of food. 

Gentlemen, nature furnishes, in this respect, a i^attern 
for man to follow. Let the dairyman do it and he will 
get rich. In considering the question of digestion, its 
proportions are of such nuignitude as to foi'bid any at- 
tempt at even a cursory glance at its details in extenso, 
in this essay. I desire, however, for the purposes which 
I have in view, to call your attention to certain general 



21 

principles involved in the subject of meal feeding, as an 
exclusive diet, under certain conditions, versus hay. In 
pushing our inquiry in this direction, we are met at the 
threshold with certain difficulties in the nature of the an- 
imal. For instjince, the capacity of our cows to consume 
any given kind of food materially varies. Cows of equal 
weight will seldom eat an equal quantity of food. When 
they do its effects vary and are far from uniform. When 
the cow gives milk, we find in those of equal weight and 
size an astonishing variation in both quality and quanti- 
ty of milk product. One will give four gallons milk per 
day, and the other but two gallons. The milk of one 
may be rich in oily matters, and the other in caseine. In 
other words, there is a marked difference in the propor- 
tion of its constituents. Make the milk into butter sepa- 
rately, and we find a difference in color, flavoi', and per- 
haps texture, as well as quantity. If equal quantities of 
each cow's milk from equjd amounts of food were ana- 
lyzed we should, perhaps, find the result from one as fol- 
lows: I take, at random, an analysis of milk by J. Al- 
fred Wanklyn: 

. IN 100 CUBIC CENTIMETRES. 

Water 88.43 grammes. 

Fat 1.12 ^ " 

Caseine 5.16 " 

Milk Sugar 4.43 

Ash.... 0.76 

102.90 

From the other: 

Water 90.09 grammes. 

Fat 3.16 ' " 

Caseine 4.16 " 

Milk Sugar 4.76 

Ash 0.73 " 

102.90 



22 

Both being the product of the same food in quality 
and quantity, but from different cows, this conclusion is 
forced upon us: 

1st. As to difference in quantity of milk. The mam- 
mary glands of one must have double the capacity of se- 
creting milk which are possessed by the other; or the 
stomachs of the latter must be sadly out of repair and 
incapable of performing their normal functions. Upon 
the last supposition, an analysis of the excrements, solid 
and liquid, would probably fix the responsibility wliere it 
belongs. But we daily find greater discrepancies in the 
product of cows equally healthful; and we are compelled 
to look for the cause in the secretive glands of the ani- 
mal. But the amount of food being the same, we have a 
right to look for the ingredients of two gallons of milk, 
stored away in the body of the defaulting animal, and 
shall not be disappointed, uidess there is a want of ca- 
pacity in her secretive glands to appropriate them. That 
such is the case, I think no intelligent dairyman, who has 
given his attention to the subject, will deny. The differ- 
ence in condition of our good and poor milkers at the 
end of the season, wdl not account for the great deficien- 
cy of milk. At any rate we do not find its equivalent 
stored away in the form of fat or flesh. The poor milker 
is generally in the best store condition, but she ought to 
be much better than we are accustomed to find her. If 
we could analyze her excrements, we should probably 
fliul the missing constituents. 

2d. As to difference in quality; the same course of ar- 
gument followed out, forces upon us the conviction, that 
there is a marked difference in the capacity of the lacte- 
al glands in the two animals to secrete the same constit- 
uents. 

The difference in the fattening qualities of different 
animals of the same breed, as well as of different breeds, 
are additional facts pointing in the same direction, and 
forcing upon us this conclusion, viz.: There is a limit to 
the capacity of each animal to appi'opriate the nutritive 
elements of its food. Heiu*e, if food, we will say meal, is 



23 

taken into tbe stomach, in quantities larger than the va- 
rious organs of digestion are capable of appropriating its 
constituents, the surplus is crowded out with the excre- 
ments and are lost. An analysis of the manures, solid 
and liquid, would determine the amount of w^aste, in any 
given case. That meal, fed in large quantities at one 
time, is partially lost, except as manure, is evident; and 
this accords -with the experience of many dairymen who 
having thus wasted it, come to the hasty conclusion that 
meal is of little value for food, and that three quarts per 
diem would be wholly inadequate to supply the wants of 
an animal. 

The gentleman referred to in my opening remarks, as 
wintering his cow upon three pints scalded meal per day, 
wintered her the same season that I commenced this 
practice, upon three quarts; and he informed me she 
never did better in her milk product than in the follow- 
ing season. Last winter he fed three quarts scalded meal 
and a small bundle of cornstalks, daily, milking her all 
the winter and getting a product equal to four quarts per 
diem, and he says she gained in condition all the time. 
Col. Potter of Potters Corners, Crawfoi-d Co., Pa., in- 
formed me a short time since, that in fattening two 
beeves a few winters since, be began by feeding corn in 
the ear. I^oticing whole kernels in the manure dropped, 
he turned a couple of small pigs into the stable, to get 
their living from the droppings of his beeves. He after- 
wards fed meal in large quantities, and the pigs ap- 
peared to thrive better than before; but finding that his 
cattle did not gain very fast, lie i-educed the quantity of 
meal fed until the pigs began to squeal for w^ajit of food; 
but, said he, "my beeves laid on flesh and fat much bet- 
ter than when fed in such liberal quantities." 

My own experience teaches me that if, in cows of or- 
dinary size, more than, say from three pints to two quarts 
is fed at one time, without scalding, waste ensues. That 
if more is to be fed for the purpose of laying on flesh and 
fat, the feeding should be, if fed clear, once in six or eight 
hours, in such quantities as could be assimilated; that if 



24 

fed i 111 mediately before or after the feeding of bay, in 
birge quantities, a loss ensues from tbe causes already 
considered, viz., a want of capacity in tbe animal to di- 
gest only a limited quantity in a given time. In otber 
words, tbe animal after eatinoj its hav, commences re- 
mastication; and tbe meal commingling witb tbe float- 
ing contents of tbe rumen, eacb propulsion of tbe latter 
into tbe reticulum causes also an undue propulsion of 
meal into tbe demi-canal leading indirectly to tbe 4tb 
stomacb, and an over supply ensues. Wbicb is wasted, 
bay or meal, it is not wortb wbile, in tbis comiection, to 
inquire; but one or tbe otber, more likely a portion of 
l^otli, are forced tbrougb tbe system witb tbe excrements. 

Tbat tbere is economy in cutting and steaming bay is 
self evident. It has been claimed by able men without 
being questioned, tbat nineteen pounds cut liay, in pieces 
two inches long, is equivalent to twenty -five pounds un- 
cut hay. No nutriment is added by cutting; but so 
much less work is to be done by the animal, wbicb re- 
(piires a certain amount of vital force to perform it. This 
vital force, when used, consumes a corresponding ])er 
cent of tbe nutriment eaten. Therefore a less quantity 
of food suffices if the hay is cut. If it could, by mechan- 
ical means, be ground as fine as the stomachs of the ani- 
mals grind it, the saving would be in proportion, and 
probably would not be less than fifty per cent. But the 
bay thus ground would pass the same as meal, through all 
tlie stomachs without remastication. 

Why would not this ground bay be a natural food for 
tbe cow? It would go just where the cow's Creator de- 
signed it should. 

Steaming is a step in tbe same direction, and in some 
respects its effects would be more advantageous: as, soft- 
ening the woody fibre, dissolving tbe soluble parts, and 
rendering true digestion more easy and thorough. A 
saving of thirty per cent, is claimed by this process. As 
no nutriment can be added, the saving must be chiefly 
in mechanical force. These considerations lead us to tbe 
question of equivalents, in the matter of meal ix'TSUs bay. 



25 

A couiuioii sized animal consumes daily three (quarts oi* 
the former, or twenty pounds of the latter. In the first 
the iniller does the mechanical work; in the latter the 
cow. The miller exacts a tenth toll for grinding your 
meal, but tlie cow is obliged to take more than mie-haJf 
for the labor which she performs on your hay ! The con- 
stituents of meal and hay, when contrasted as ecpiiva- 
lents, are liable to more or less error in results, from the 
fact that the composition of both vary, different kinds of 
corn yielding different quantities of any given constitu- 
ent; some being much richer than others, especially in 
oil, starch and sugar; while hay also varies, according to 
the soil upon which it is gro^vn, the time of cutting, and 
the manner of curing; but we are able, nevertheless, to 
approximate results. 

One analysis by Dr. Salisbury of Albany, of corn, gave 
as follows: 

Gluten 4.f)2 

• Albumen 2.64 

Starch 41.85 

Oil 3.88 

Caseine 1.32 

Dextrine _ 5.40 

Fibre _.. 21.30 

Sugar and Extract 10.00 

Water 10.00 

Or, in other words, of nitrogenous or flesh forming sub- 
stances about 13.00 

Of non-nitrogenous or fat producing substances 09.00 

This analysis is perha]:>s as favorable for arriving at an 
average of the true value of corn for feeding to animals, 
as any that can be found, except that the amount of 
woody fibre given is very large. 

The result ot an analysis of Timothy liav, whicli is 



2f{ 

(j[uite as tkvonible as auy I have been iible to find, 1 i^ive 
as fV)llows: 

Water . - - - - - 14.61 

Flesh producing or nitrogenized substan- 
ces 8,44 

Fat producing or non-nitrogenized sub- 
stances - 43.63 

Woodv fibre . 27.16 

Ash _ - 6.15 

We find the respiratory elements, starch, sugar, &c., 
an excess of which goes to the production of fat in the 
animal in nnich larger quantity in the corn than hay. In 
considering the doctrine of equivalents in this case, we 
nuist look beyond these figures, and take into account 
the difi*erence in the wants and absolute requirements of 
the animal upon these different diets. In feeding meal 
the animal has the three quarts of meal, when introduced 
to ]\(^.v stomach, to raise to the tenqjerature of animal 
heat, and say two gallons cold water, per day. This is 
higher as to water than cattle on meal w411 average; but 
I find myself in a situation to be generous in estimates. 
In feeding hay, twenty pounds per diem, and at least 
twelve gallons cold water, are to be raised to the tenq^er- 
ature of animal heat, and kept there; and not only this, 
but her first stomach is filled with the food ot several 
days, wei^hino; from 200 to 300 lbs., accord ino; to size of 
animal, whicl) is also to be kept at the same temperature 
for the 24 hours, wholly jit the expense of the 20 lbs. of 
hay, excepting what heat uniy be produced by the slight 
fermenlation of the food in that receptacle. 

In feeding hay, she nuist use up from fifty to sixty per 
cent, of the nutritious elements in her food, to perform 
the labor of mastication, j-emastication, carrying so much 
extra weight in her stomach, and supplying the extra 
heat. 

In feeding meal, the teeth of the animal have perfect 
rest. 

In feeding hay, the teeth are in constant use upon 



I 



27 

tough woody fibre, at least three-fourths of the tweuty- 
four hours, and of necessity wear out uiuch faster than 
when used on tender grass as in tlie suimiier season, or 
when fed upon exclusive meal diet. The stomachs, like- 
wise, have a correspondingly tough joh in performing 
their functions. 

But w^hy weary your patience by pursuing this subject 
furtlier ? 

Gentlemen, 1 have proved to you on paper, just as I 
have demonstrated by my practice, at various intervals 
for sixteen years, that three quarts of good Indian meal, 
fed under given conditions, are more than an equivalent 
for all the good hay you can coax a cow to eat ! I jim 
aware that the best known recognized authorities of the 
world are against me. Galileo's doctrines were not more 
radical to his contemporaries, than mine are to-day upon 
this subject; nevertheless, he was right and they were 
wrono*. Theories are sublime fallacies in the histoi-y of 
our race. Guessing, and taking the most important 
things for granted, has been our bane throughout all the 
ages. But tests don't lie, and theories have to vanish 
before them. I quote here from "Milch Cows and Dai- 
ry Farming," by Charles L. Flint. 

"Now, the normal functions of the digestive organs 
not only depend on the condition of its food, but on its 
volume. The volume, or the bulk of the food, contributes 
to the health}' activity of the digestive organs, by exercis- 
ing a stimulative effect on the nerves which govei-n them. 
Thus the whole oro'anization of ruminatino- animals ne- 
cessitates the supply of bulky food to keep the animal in 
good condition." 

The idea is not original with Mr. Flint, who is excel- 
lent authority upon many of the subjects upon which he 
treats, but it has long been taught as an axiom by the 
very highest authorities. A greater fallacy could not 
easily be invented. Force an animal to grind up a great 
bulk of wood libre, and carry it about with her, to stim- 
ulate the nerves of the digestive organs ! Why, every 
motion she makes, outward or inward, is at a!i expense 



28 

of vital force, which is generated by nutriiaeiit, not bulk ! 
Alas ! poor ruminant; you must chew all day, and you 
must chew all night, to stimulate the nerves of your di- 
o-estive organs ! Nature cries out in vain for rest and 
recuperation ! Your lord and master says, chew ! chew 
to stimulate your nerves: Nature cries out for nutrition 
to stimulate your whole system; but man, your lord, 
gives you woody fibre, bulk, work ! 

Dairymen, give all the rest you can to your cow, all 
the year round. .When she is in milk if you feed hay, 
cut and steam and mix a little meal with it if you can; 
but give her quiet; when you feed green grass in the 
summer months, cut and carry her food to her in her 
stall if you can, if you want the greatest possible amount 
of milk from a given amount of food. It your pastures 
are short, feed her two quarts of meal in the morm'ng, 
and let her stand in her stall until it is digested; then 
turn her out. When she is dry, save your hay for the 
milking season; fasten her up in a warm, well ventilated 
stjible, and keep her there; give her from one to two 
quarts of meal (according to her size and richness of 
meal) at regular hours morning and evening, and a little 
salt, after the meal, once iik two or three da^^s. Carry 
her what water she will drink (which will be but little); 
curry her at least once a day. If she is in poor flesh 
give her a little extra oil meal at noon; do this and she 
will look a little gaunt and shrunk behind; but stand 
and look her in the face, which never deceives, and you 
will see a bright eye, w^ith no hunger in it, and a placid, 
contented countenance; and when you turn aw^ay she 
will not bawl after you, asking in her dumb way for 
woody flbre, to grind through her system; do this aiul 
she will give you a better return in milk, when you turn 
her out to grass, than the cow did before, wintered on 
hay. 

Plant more corn, feed more meal, and instead of di- 
minishing your herd gradually, as in the years that are 
passed away, you nuiy, in the years to come, increase 
their number. 



29 

A new and better era is dawning npon us. The days 
of famine prices for ha}^ have already passed away, nev- 
er to return. Let \i» hasten to learn lessons of wisdom 
from the errors of the past; let us study the nature and 
wants of our animals, questioning all theories, demand- 
ing demonstration by tests that cannot deceive us; let us 
acquire new and valuable skill in the manipulations of 
our milk products, in the manufacture of both butter and 
cheese; let us educate our sons and daughters to make 
dairying what its importance demands — a science; let 
us agitate for experimental stations or farms, which alone 
can lift agriculture, in all its branches, from its past low 
estate to the very front rank of all known sciences, where 
it rightly belongs. 

Finally, let us prove all things, holding fast only that 
which is ijood. 



Exclusive Meal Feeding. 



An Address Delivered before the Annual Meeting of 
THE Pa. State Dairymen's Association at 

MeADVILLE, FDR THE YEAR 1876. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen : 

One yeur ago I hud the honor of addressincr you upon 
the subject of exclusive meal feeding, as I practice it. 
The fact that you have invited me the second time to 
continue its discussion is proof of your appreciation of its 
importance, and that the determined ridicule which has 
assailed my theory on every hand, has not prejudiced 
your minds against it. For this I tender you my grate- 
ful acknowledgments. You will find your reward in its 
practical adoption. That it is to be adopted when un- 
derstood 1 cannot doubt. 

As dairymen seeking the best methods of feeding for 
profit, 1 invite your consideration of such facts as my own 
limited experience and that of others who have tried my 
system afford. Inasmuch as it involves a suspension of 
rumination hitherto considered indispensable, its effects 
upon the animals thus fed, their milk product, health, 
length of life, tendency to fatten and the character and 
quality of their offspring generally, are matters of the 
gravest importance which call for the closest scrutiny. 

The value and weight of my observations you must de- 
termine for yourselves. It will take many years of con- 



31 

tinned meal feeding to satisfkctorily settle all the (ques- 
tions involved in the innovation, but to minds free from 
prejudice the facts already established are of the nature 
of demonstrations. Let us examine the facts. For six 
different seasons during the last twenty years, I have fed 
meal exclusively to my dairy herd for a greater or less 
length of time. 

The four first seasons were detached, the two last con- 
secutive. During the first my milk was manufactured 
into butter at home, and was not weighed; but I had oc- 
casion to contrast during these years the yield in milk 
after meal feeding with that after ordinary wintering u\)- 
on hay, and invariably noticed a perceptible difference 
in favor of meal feeding, a difference so marked as to 
render mistake upon the point impossible. 

There is a bare possibility that the increase in these 
cases was accidental, and that the product would have 
been the same if the [)revious wintering had been upon 
hay. 

There is always more or less uncertainty in tracing re- 
sults to their true cause in the matter of milk product in 
conse(|uence of abundance or scarcity of pasturage. 

We can easily regulate and estimate the amount of 
winter feed, altliongh there may be a great difierence in* 
the nutritive value of hay in different seasons, pound for 
pound, from various causes, but we cannot grade our 
pasturage or control the season so as to produce uniform- 
ity of growth. In comparing the yield of my cows du- 
ring these periods this uncertainty is entitled to conside- 
ration. 

Whatever the cause may have been, the fact that my 
cows always did best after wintering upon meal is indis- 
putable. The calves dropped after meal feeding were 
larger, stronger and in better flesh than after hay feed- 
ing. I submit that this result cannot reasonably be sup- 
posed to have been [iccidental 

Some of these calves 1 raised, and they are among my 
best milkers. Whether wintering the mothers on meal 
had any perceptible influence in developing milking 



32 

qualities in the oifspriug, I am not yet prepared to affirm 
as established. 

Another fact early attracted my attention in the prac- 
tice of meal feeding, viz: All animals wintered in this 
way, take on flesh when turned out to grass in the spring 
more readily than when hay fed. 

Again, for the past three seasons I have sent my milk 
to the Stockton cheese factory for a period of about five 
months each season where it has been daily weighed. 

In 1873 they were wintered upon hay; in 1874 and 
1875 upon meal. They averaged for the first season a 
little more than 16 pounds of milk daily, and this was 
about their usual yield when wintered on hay; for the 
second season about twenty pounds, and this year, which 
is my first of consecutive meal feeding, over 27 pounds 
dailj'. 

During the S2jring months before turning to grass, their 
rations being what hay they would eat and two quarts of 
meal daily; their daily average of butter when wintered 
upon hay has ranged from 12 to 14 ounces. 

The present season upon the same daily rations, they 
have averaged during this period, li pounds of butter 
daily — a gain of 75 to 100 per cent. Their whole pro- 
duct for the season is equivalent to 250 pounds of butter 
per cow. I 

Their feed has been the grass of the ]>asture only. The 
season was wet and cold; the pasture may have been 
better than in 1873, but other herds, the milk of which 
has been sent to the same factor}^, have shown no cor- 
responding increase of yield. The legitimate inference 
to be drawn, is that the diiference is owing to their man- 
ner of winter feeding. 

Again, three of my cows proved to be barren last 
spring, tw^o of which were meal fed with the rest of my 
herd, l)ut the other was fed what hay she would eat and 
two quarts of meal daily, and milked lor familv use till 
the 10th of March, when she was dried oflT. 

The two meal fed cows were milked till the 10th of 
January, and had about fifty pounds of meal each, du- 



i 



33 

ring the spring months. They were turned to gniss with 
nij milch cows, and in three weeks time were beef and 
sold as such. The one not meal fed had tlie same fare, 
ran dry all smiimer in the pasture and had to be st;ill 
fed in October and part cf November, and even then 
was not in as good condition as those that sold for beef 
early in June. 

Whether this remarkable increase of milk production 
in my herd, and this quick fattening for beef, have any 
connection wdth my manner of wintering, you, gentle- 
men, can judge as welf as I. It is possible that the same 
results mio'ht have followed if meal feedino; had not been 
practiced. 

It is an axiom with dairymen, that cows well wintered 
yield larger returns in milk, than if insuliiciently fed, 
and that if allowed to become poor or thin in tiesh before 
dropping their calves, the latter will be inferior, and the 
milk product for the following season materially lessened. 

Cases of retention of placenta have very rarely oc- 
curred after a winter of exclusive meal feeding. 

Mr. Philip Lazell, the well known l)utter buyer of 
Stockton, has wintered his one cow upon an exclusive 
meal diet, as many seasons as I have my herd; he how- 
ever, scalding the meal, and has twice fed in this way 
from November till grass grew in the spring, with satis- 
factory results. 

In the spring of 1860, Mr. Thomas Lyne, a tenant of 
Mr. Truman Todd, of Stockton, who is widely known as 
a cattle broker, being out of hay fed meal trom March 
1st till grass grew — three quarts daily to tliose not in 
milk, five quarts daily to the milkers, with this innova- 
tion upon my practice, that he allowed his cows to range 
his fields when the weather was favorable instead of 
keeping them closely in the stables. His hei'd made 
more butter that season than they had ever done l^efoi-e. 

Mr. Todd informs me that being satisfied of the desir- 
ability of meal feeding, he had since then repeatedly 
urged upon his tenants a renewal of the practice, l)ut 
they were unwilling on account of the ]X)]^ular prejudice 



34 

against the siualliiess oi' the ration, and the suspension of 
rumination. 

Since the public agitation of this subject, so strong has 
been the prejudice against it that but few have had the 
temerity or the independence to test the merits of the 
practice. All the cases reported to me, however, have 
been witnesses in its favor. 

Mr. Wm. H. Whitney, of Bladensburg, Iowa, writes 
me that he fed four two-year-olds last winter, according 
to my rule, which fattened very, quickly in the spring 
when turned to grass. He appends this remarkable 
statement that during a residence of eight years in that 
great corn-growing State, he has never heard of another 
instance of fattening cattle upon meal. 

Wm. Beadle, Esq., of Cadiz, Ohio, in a letter to the 
Kew York Times, gives his experience in wintering two 
of his herd of cows, feeding under my rules for ten 
weeks, and strongly endorsing the practice as a great 
improvement. 

In a recent letter received by me, he says: "These 
cows have done full as well if not better than the rest of 
my herd running in the same pasture, l)ut wintered on 
ha v." He also commends mv rules of feed ins: jt-s hiid 
down in my pamphlet. 

John Adams, Esq., of Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, win- 
tered a large herd of fifty cows according to my system. 
He writes me that the winter was the coldest ever known 
in that remon, that his stables were verv cold, and that 
in consecpience he increased the ration to an average of 
four quarts daily; that upon this ration they did not 
scour; that they went through to grass all right, came in 
all right, and at the close of the milking season, says they 
have never done better; and that meal feeding was a 
great saving to him, both of time and money. 

You will perceive that this test of my system by Mr. 
Adams has great value, at least in two respects: 1st, it 
shows that the meal ration can and should be graded by 
the wants of the animal. The intense cold demanded a 
corresponding increased ration of heat producing food. 



35 

iin(\ the needed supply of ca,rbon wixs readily found in 
the meal. 

Could an equal amount of carbon have been found in 
any hay ration that the cows could possibly have eaten 
if the labor of the animal in its consumption be consid- 
ered ? 

Had the weather been still colder, the animals would 
have required still more, and it would have been perfect- 
ly safe to have fed them accordingly. Ten degrees fur- 
ther south 2 quarts would very likely have met the ani- 
mals^ wants as fully as the 4 quarts at Ingersoll. 

The Greenlander readily consumes his f) or 8 quarts 
of whale or seal oil per day, the inhabitant of the Tem- 
perate Zone his pound of meat and one or two pounds of 
farinaceous food with condiments, while he of tropical 
climes is content with his ration of rice and a few sim- 
ple fruits. 

All animal life is subject to the same laws, and only 
uniform under the contingency of like conditions. 

2d. Mr. Adams has shown that meal feeding can safe- 
ly be followed in the coldest regions, wherever it is de- 
sirable to domesticate the cow or a sheep. The inqjort- 
ance of this fact cannot well be over-estimated, and the 
lesson which it teaches should be heeded. 

Gentlemen, I have given you the facts bearing upon 
my system of meal feeding, as I understand them, in the 
plainest possible language, without coloring or exaggera- 
tion. My firm belief is, that the system tends to devel- 
op the milking capacity of cows thus fed, and that all 
ruminating animals will fatten quicker and cheaper un- 
der this than any other known system. The demonstra- 
tion of this is within easy reach of any who mjiy elect to 
test it. Beyond all question, the proofs are conclusive, 
that three quarts of corn meal, fed in accordance with 
my rules, is fully the equivalent of twenty pounds of the 
best hay as ordinarily fed by our dairymen and stock 
raisers, and that, if necessary, hay may be entirely dis- 
pensed with, in wintering dry stock or sheep witji per- 
fect safetv. 



One bushel of corn gronnd and tolled will 'last an or- 
dinary sized cow of 900 pounds weight, 12 days, and is 
equal to 240 pounds of hay. Corn at 60 cents per bush- 
el is the equivalent of hay at ^5 per ton of 2,000 pounds, 
and where it€an be had at that rate the cost of winter- 
ing an animal, weighing 900 pounds, will range from 
$7 to $10, according to coldness and length of the fod- 
dering season. 

But hay, as a rule, costs at least $10 per ton, and fre- 
quently, in many localities, ranges from $15 to $25. The 
saving effected, by adopting my system, will be from $5 
to $20 per animal, according to the respective prices of 
corn and hay. In seasons of short and defective hay 
crops, which are becoming more common, the import- 
ance of meal as a substitute for hay is apparent. 

As a deficiency of the corn crop seldom, if ever, occurs 
in connection with that of hay, there can arise no neces- 
sity hereafter for sacrificing our animals for want of food. 

In these times, when economy in every possible way, 
with very many, is both a necessity and a duty, meal 
feeding commends itself to all who are desirous of saving 
their money. 

A new and probably permanent market is opening for 
American beef in England. 

The price of corn in many western States ranges from 
ten to twenty cents per bushel. 

Corn and grass, either separate or combined, produce 
rhe richest and cheapest meat, as they do also the best 
and cheapest butter and cheese. 

The poor man, who keeps his one cow, in town, village 
or country, can winter her safely in s})ite of $20 or $30 
hay. 

This may not please those who niake a business of 
soiling hay, but they will have to accept the inevitable, 
and be content with more reasonable profits. 

But I am speaking to dairymen who are dependent 
upo)i their herds for their living. Vour business will be- 
come much more profitable if you avail yourselves of the 
advantages of my system of feeding. 



87 

Mjiuy will find it very convenient to adopt in conse- 
quence of a disprojKjrtion between their meadows and 
pasture lands. 

Meal feeding will enable all of you to increase your 
herds and keep any portions of your lands under the 
plow. 

In niy address before you one year ago, I assumed the 
direct passage of meal fed to ruminants to the fourth 
stomach. This has been almost universally conceded in 
this country for tJie last fifteen or twenty years. 

Our most distinguished agriculturists claimed to have 
demonstrated the fact contrary to the observations <^)f the 
French scientists. 

During the past season I have slaughtered two meal- 
fed beeves, and an examination of the stomachs has 
shown an accumulation of a nund)er of days rations in 
the rumen. This is conclusive testimony as to the pas- 
sage of the meal. 1 found also that, like coarser food, it 
passed into and through the third stomach. 

Feeding meal immediately before the tmimals were 
killed, I have also made very careful examiinitions of all 
the stomachs of a large number of beeves fattened in the 
ordinary manner. 

The i^reat mass of the meal so fed has also been found 
in the rumen, with only very slight traces of it in the 
third and fourth strnnac^hs, where it was probably car- 
ried prematurely by the violent death struggles of the 
animals. 

As my rules for feeding are founded not upon theory, 
but upon practice, I find no good reason for their modi- 
fi(tation, in this discovery, except perhaps to emphasize 
the necessity of allowing animals fed \nider my system 
all the water they may wish to drink, otherwise if feed- 
ing heavily, there might be danger of impaction of the 
manifolds. 

Gentlemen, when this agitation first began, the whole 
world was arrayed against me. The harndess suspen- 
sion of rumination and the small ration fed were held to 



3S 

he pTuna facia evidence of the toi'ture of my animals, 
and their slow starvation. 

I was arraigned at the bar of public opinion, accused 
of either wanton cruelty to dumb beasts, or of falsity ing 
facts. The most ignorant were loudest in their denun- 
ciations, but manj who assume to be teachers in agri- 
culture encouraged them. 

My accusers in many instances, were those who claim 
to speak in the name of science, as G-alileo's claimed to 
represent the Bible. History repeats itself; the condi- 
tions are similar, but I shall sign no recantation from 
fear of being torn limb from limb. 

All reforms and discoveries pass through three stages, 
viz: Ridicule, discussion and adoption. 

There seems to be a lull in the cyclone of ridicule, and 
for the credit of this generation it is to be hoped the storm 
is over. 

Discussion so far has been in the form of assertions, 
generally aiiirming the infallibility of Gei-man scientists, 
whose experiments in feeding, so far as they go, are in 
no respect antagonistic to m}^ system. Facts will in time 
elucidate themselves. The explanation of my system in- 
volves a more intricate knowledge of physiological laws 
than prevails among those who assume to speak in the 
name of science. 

Let me be understood. Those who are entitled to the 
appellation of scientific men have not yet spoken, as I 
am aware, with the exception of Prof. Johnson, and he 
treats the subject with all the candor that has ever 
marked his able writings. 

In the future I hope, if my life is spared, to be able to 
satisfactorily solve some of the problems involved in my 
system of meal feeding. A thorough investigation of its 
merits is now in ordei*. When. once understood, its uni- 
versal adoption is inevitable. 



Meal Feeding. 

Rochester,. N. Y., November 1st, 1875. 

0. C. BlodgeU, Esq., Cor. Sec'y Western New Yorh 

Dairymen'' s Association: 

Sir: — Will yon, or your society, please take verj^ care- 
ful notes of the result and effect of exclusive meal feed- 
ing to cows this winter in L. W. Miller's experiments ? 

Kote the appearance and behavior of the animal in 
every particular, also her appearance and weight at the 
time of going on to meal as compared to the same at the 
end of such feeding; to the end that you may have some 
information as to whether she has gained, held her own 
or lost flesh during the time. Also please report any 
points of interest that you may observe about them. 

When you or your society have completed your obser- 
vations, please state what value this method has, and in 
what manner you would apply it in practice upon your 
farms. Yours, trulv, 

(Signed) L. B. ARNOLD. 

Upon this suggestion the president appointed a com- 
mittee to take observations. They were composed as 
folk)ws: E. L. McCullough, chairman, Stockton; Dr. Geo. 
S. Harrison, Sinclearville; Philij) Lazell, Stockton; Dr. 
D. G. Pickett, Stockton; Chauncey Warren, Stockton; 
O. C. Blodgett, Pomfret. 

REPORT OF MEAL FEEDING COMMITTEE. 

To the President of the Westeim, New Yorh Dairymen^ 
, Association: 
YowY committee appointed to note the result of exclu- 



40 

sive meal feeding to dairy cows, respectfully report as 
tollows: 

We have from time to time visited L. W. Miller's herd 
of dairy cows in Stockton, N. Y., during the winter while 
being fed on meal, and after they were put back again 
on hay. 

They are for size and general appearance about an av- 
erage lot of Chautauqua county native cows; average 
live weight about 900 pounds. 

The herd were fed exclusively upon corn meal for 7 
(seven) weeks; each animal according to its digestive 
capacity, making an average of about 3 (three) quarts of, 
meal per day for each cow. 

During this time the following points were apparent: 

The cows did not ruminate. Were very quiet; did 
not evince any inordinate desire for food when hay was 
shown them; not so much as is displayed by cows that 
are fed on hay alone, in the usual way of feeding, a lit- 
tle less than they will eat. Were much more quiet than 
cows fed mostly on meal with a small feeding of hay; 
say 4 to 5 pounds per day. We could not discover any 
signs of suffering or unrest in any way whatevei*. 

That by comparing their condition at the time of going 
on to meal with their condition at the time of going back 
again to hay, we could not discover that they had either 
lost or gained in weight of flesh. That visiting them 
again after thirteen days on hay we could not discover 
anything about them that would denote but that they had 
been wintered in the usual way; were then flUed up 
again like other cows; their stomachs siifliciently dis- 
tended for di^estino; hav and were ruminating; in the 
usual manner. 

We also And that the calves dropped from these cows 
are of more than ordinary size, fleshy, strong, active and 
healthy, and that in parturition, cases of retention of the 
placenta are unusually rare. 

That these cows have been treated in this way for sev-rj 
eral winters at a o-reater or less length of time each year, . 
and by referring to notes from cheese factory records, ,' 



41 

we discover that thej sometimes produce more milk per 
day than any other herd; last July, for instance, being a 
daily yield per cow of 29 lbs. 3 ozs., or 1 lb. 11 ozs. per 
cow more than any other herd. 

From affidavits placed before lis by persons who have 
observed the point in years past, we find that snch meal 
fed cows, when turned to grass, take on flesh faster than 
those wintered in the usual way, other conditions being 
equal. 

Signed — E. L, McCuUough, Philip Lazell, Chauncev 
Warren, D. G. Pickett, Geo. S. Harrison, O. C, Blodget't. 

Jamestown, N. Y., May 10th, 1876. 

Prof. L. B. Arnold: — I herewith hand you report of 
committee on meal feeding on the "Miller plan." 

Let me say that I have met with them several times, 
and I fully concur in their report. 

You ask us the question, "How will we aj^ply this 
method to our practical business?" 

I will answer by saying, (1) should I find in the fall 
of 1ST6, that I lacked feed for my thirty or forty cows 
for thirty or forty days, 1 should not sell off a per cent, 
of those cows; nor should I buy hay; nor should I cut 
down on their daily feed of hav and add a little dailv 
ration of grain to make it "go further;" but when my 
cows were all dried off, should keej^ them all on meal 
exclusively for the thirty or forty days, and then go back 
to hay again. Other ways of making this method use- 
ful to us will readily occur. Thus we may keep more 
stock with a given amount of meadow land, or we may 
utilize the corn crop in the place of hay at any time when 
the meal would be cheaper than hay. Many- ways will 
occur to us how to utilize a fact in nature when it has 
once been discovered. 

Again, sliould a June frost sweep off TO per cent, of 
our hay crop as in years past, our 50,000 cows would 
not be sacrificed down to a minimum, l)ut they would be 
all carried safely through. I am of the opinion tliat 



42 

when Mr. Miller's rules are tbllowed in this matter as 
laid down in his treatise on "Meal Feeding and Animal 
Digestion," that not only is meal feeding cheap, sale and ' 
reliable, but we have some evidence to show that the 
treatment goes to improve the after miliv production of 
the cow. On this point please let me remind you that 
this Miller herd of cows, although oidy an average lot to 
apjjearance, often outsti-ip the premium herds of Stock- 
ton, in quantity of milk given the summer after being 
fed on meal. Of course other causes may jjroduce this 
result. They may have better grass, (not very likely), 
or tliey niay be milked with more j)recision and treated 
more kindly, (not probable), or perhaps the}^ would 
beat the other herds under exact like surroundings; but 
the fact at least does not argue that meal feeding is det- 
rimental to after milk production. On this point we 
have the result of Thomas Line's experiment, that also 
points in the same direction. He ted a herd of cows on 
meal exclusively from about March 1st, tdl grass grew. 
The result was that the cows gave a large yield of butter 
the following summer. Therefore putting the results so 
far obtained all together, we can not well resist the logi- 
cal conclusion that exclusive meal feedins^ has a tenden- 
cy to itmuence both the animal after milk production, 
and her capacity for laying on fat wlien changed back 
to other feed. Other questions occur in this connection. 
What would be the result on her length of life if this conrse 
w^as followed every season? Would she live a greater 
mnnber of years or wonld she die younger? What would 
be the effect upon her race if they were kept in this way 
for a number of successive generations? Would you 
thereby l>uild up a breed of better milkers, or would they 
deteriorate after the lirst generation in their uiilking (qual- 
ities ? It is (j[uite an easy matter for a class of minds to 
settle all these cpiestions beforehand by a system of guess- 
ing; or as we might say, "deciding the case before the 
facts are all in."" In order to brintJi; in the facts I hereby 
suggest that Mr. Miller continue to pursue this course, 
and to raise calves from such cows and in turn the calves 



43 

again from them, and in this way settle the question not 
only as to what the immediate but also the renir>te effect 
may be upon such a. race. These and man}- other points 
are liable to be brought out, following the first discovery 
of the main fact; namely, that a ruminant maybe fed in 
such a way as to suspend rumination for a time without 
detriment to the animal. 

In the future there will be a great number of animals 
kept in this manner in this county, and our opportimitv 
for observations more extended ; and I shall take great 
pleasure in assisting to carry out any system of taking 
such observations as you may suggest. 
Yours, respectfiillv, 

FLINT BLA:N^CHAED. 

To Prof. L. B. Arnold, Sec'y American Dairymen's As- 
sociation, Rochester, N. Y. 



ADDENDA. 



Containing Rules and Explanations, for the Prac^pi- 

CAL Application of the Principles Involved 

IN THE Foregoing Address. 



for an exclusive meal DIET. 

The stables should be warm and comfortable, securing 
protection from the rigors of winter. Light and air should 
be ireel y admitted when the temperature will permit; suji- 
light should never be excluded from our animals, unless 
it involves the admission of cold wiiuls. The platform 
upon which they stand should be dry, and if covered with 
refuse straw, or forest leaves, gathered for the purpose, it 
will add to their comfort, securing better results for the 
food consumed, and a valuable addition to the manure 
pile; Dairy cows should be first 

DRIED OFF, 

before they are restricted to the limited quantity of food 
recommended. If any of the herd are to be kept in milk, 
they should be placed by themselves, and out of sight of 
the others if practicable, and fed accordingly upon both 
hay and meal, or other coarse succulent food. If however 
coarse food is wanting, and milk is desired, the animals 
may all stand together as usual, and those in milk fed 
according to directions given. 

O^^ER FEEDING 

is to be guarded against as indispensable to success. Tlie 



45 

mangers or troughs, in which the animals are to to be fed, 
must be arranged so as to render it impossible for any ot 
them to obtain, by overreaching, any part of the p<^rtion 
fed to their nearest neighbor. Feeding troughs are not a 
necessity in meal feeding. The mess may be eaten from 
the smooth floor, in front of the animal, or any convenient 
vessel, movable or otherwise; but as some will eat faster 
than others, they will infringe upon their neighbors' rights, 
unless prevented by a partition which renders it impossi- 
ble. The usual distance between the stanchions in the 
connnon American stable where hay is fed, is not suffi- 
cient, without partition or other effective l)arrier. The 
damage to the animal robbed of a portion of its daily ra- 
tion, bears no p-oportion to the injury inflicted upon the 
trespasser. Scouring, which is most zealously to be guard- 
ed against, is sure tr> result if overreaching is practiced. 

THE MEAL 

must be ground as tine as possible. Scouring is liable, if 
it is fed coarse. The gastric juices perform their work 
upon flue meal readily; and if the (piantity fed is not too 
large, not a particle can escape their action. If coarse 
meal is, from necessity, fed, it should be thoroughl-v cooked 
or steamed, which alone would render it e(pial to tine. In 
case it was desired to lay on flesh or fat, either to improve 
general condition, or to make l)eef, the (puintity might be 
gradually increased, if cooked, with but little, if any, dan- 
ger of relaxation of the bowels. The corn used shonld be 
of the yellow variety, mdess 

OIL CAKE OR COITON SEED MEAL . 

is added. There shrmld be from three to four \)er cent, 
of oil in good sound yellow corn (white corn although it 
may be rich in starch and sugar seldom contains even 
one per cent, of oil). This ])roportion of oil in their 
food should never, under any circumstances, be dimin- 
ished, but may w^ith safety be increased fifty per cent.; 
and if beef is desired, the quantity may be dou])led. 
The feedi 112: should be at 



4r, 



REGULAR HOURS 



if possible. Habit governs the appetite and wants of 
the animal, to a much greater extent than is generally un- 
derstood. Quiet, which is essential, if the best results are 
desired from a given amount of food, can never be se- 
cured mdess the hours of feeding are regular and imi- 
form. Twice a day, not far from simrise and sunset, with 
an average of about three pints to one feed, has been the 
author's rule; but, if convenient, dividing the meal into 
three messes instead, might insure better digestion with 
some animals, and also obviate some of the dangers of 
relaxation. As a rule, the meal when fed to cows not in 
rnilk should be 

DRY. 

The animal has an abundance of saliva, which is bet- 
ter than water to moisten it, and which otherw^ise will be 
partially wasted. The dryer the food, the longer Avill be 
the process of moistening it with the secretions of saliva. 
As these secretions are natural, the presumption is, that 
their agency in ])repari ng the food for the action of the 
gastric juices, and other acids employed in the different 
stages of digestion and assimilation, may be essential. As 
over-feedins is most rimdlv to be guarded against, an 

EXACT MEASURE, 

holding three pints (if feeding is to be twice a day, or 
one ((uart if three times) should be used, that no mistakes 
may occur. It cannot be imprested too strongly upon 
the ndnd, that success in meal feeding depends more \\\)- 
o\\ this one little item, than perhaps many others com- 
bined. The meal must be fed in small quantities. Re- 
laxation, which may prove difficult to control, is sure to 
follow if due heed is not paid to this point. For the 
same and other obvious reasons, the feeding shoidd be 
done, if possible, by 

THE SAME HAND 

from the beginning to the end; and this should never, 
under any circmnstances, be left to a careless or incom- 



47 

peteiit pereon. The iiiiimals will recjuire watching close- 
ly, and 110 one should have charge of them, unless he 
feels interested in carrying them through in the best pos- 
sible condition. One ounce of prevention will be found of 
far greater value than a _poicnd of cure, in feeding meal. 

THE CHANGE 

from coarse food to tine, had better be made at once, 
without any gradations. It takes a mmiber of day^ for 
the tii*st stomach to become (juite empty, and remastica- 
tion of the coarse food previously eaten will contimie 
more or less until this is accomplished. The meal fed 
goes at once into the rumen, and if the quantity for the 
first two or three feedings is not snuill, an over supply 
ensues; at all events it is mixed with the coarse food 
previously eaten, until the supply runs out. For this rea- 
son the change cannot be made suddenly, if it was de- 
sired, and the feeder imist use his judgment at first, ra- 
ther than his measure. Besides, if the animal is unac- 
customed to eating meal, three pints would be likely to 
prr>duce satiety at first, even if it did nr>t affect the l)ow- 
els unfavorably. 

The absence of the weight and bulk of the coai-se fiwd, 
and the necessary gradual cessation of rimiination, in- 
volves more or less uneasiness, on the pait of the animal, 
for a few days. It is siiiiply, however, the l)reaking up 
of an old habit, and the formation of a new one in its 
place; and perfectly in accordance with nature, and the 
laws designed for the well-being of ruminants. The pas- 
sage of fine food directly into the rumeji, is of itself a full 
and complete answer to any and every assertion and ar- 
gument, that meal is an unnatural food; or that its ex- 
clusive use involves any actual suffering whatever. The 
animals had better be kept in their stalls, and watered 
])v hand, until they become quiet and contented. If ac- 
customed to the change of diet, they accept the situation 
very (piietly. For several winters a stranger daily visit- 
ing the stables of the writer, would scarcely have noticed 
anything unusual in the ap|>earance of liis herd, when 



48 

the ehjiiige of diet was being made, unless it was the nat- 
ural shriidcage in Inilk. This shrinkage soon becomes 
marked and prominent, and, to one unaccustomed tosee- 
inp; animals in that condition, mis^ht cause him to reo:ard 
tliem as wasted and poor, when in reality they were the 
reverse. The aninud, relieved from carrying a lai'ge 
luilk of matter (jimounting in an aggregate to from one- 
fourth to one-third of her live weight) and the by no 
means insignificant labor of remastication, soon learns 
to enjoy her new life. The old habit might incline her 
to seek l)ulky food, if she had the chance, but the better 
way is to keep such food out ot her reach, compelling the 
formation of new liabits in accordance with her changed 
condition. The same hand that feeds the meal should 

CLEAN THE STABLES, 

or at least examine the manure of each animal as often 
as he feeds. This he should never neglect, until his ani- 
mals have l)ecome accustomed to the new diet, and their 
discharges become natui-al, showing regularity and per- 
fect digestion. The amount of meal fed when this oc- 
curs shows the digestive capacity of the animal; some- 
times this digestive capacity is gradually increased, in 
wdiich case the rations should be correspondingly in- 
creased. Upon his care and discrimination in this matter 
will depend his success in meal feeding. The manure 
dropped for the first few days will vary more or less, be- 
ing cr)mposed, in part, of the contents of the coarse food 
previr)us]y stored in the rumen. If any tendency to re- 
laxation is shown, scald the meal, or lessen the amount 
fed. When the old food has been evacuated some ani- 
mals will go one, two, and even three days without drop- 
ping au}^ manure whatever. This is no cause for alarm, 
but is an indication, if the appetite is good, that the ra- 
tion of meal nuiy with safety be slightly increased. If 
how^ever the appetite is poor, and a reluctance is shown 
to eating, trv if scaldine; the meal will not better meet 
the recpiirements of the animal's taste. Xo harm will 
ensue if the ration is withheld for one or two feedings, or 



40 

even more. It is always sate to underfeed, but n&vpr to 
overfeed. In nine cases out often, they will resin iie eat- 
ing their rations \\ hen they get read}', and appear to l)e 
better for the season of fasting. If, Jiowever, the case is 
obstinate, a ta])lespoonful of copperas may ])e dissolved, 
and jx^ured down the throat. A marked diiference will 
Ije observ^e<l in the ap]jetites of a herd of co^\'s for'^tliis 
diet, which generpJ.ly, but not always, conforui to their 

DIGESTIVE capacity; 

that is, those that eat meal with the greatest avidity, are 
generally able to digest their rations thoroughly. Au-ain, 
as a rule the best milkers will be found to he the greatest 
eaters, but in this there are exceptions. The animals be- 
ing dry, the mammary glands are at rest, uidess, indeed, 
they have the ]>ower to lay up stores of fat, t<^) 1 >e used 
afterwards in the j^roduction of rich milk. The animal 
having become accnstomed to a meal diet, which will be 
shown, by the regularity of its daily evacuiitions, it be- 
comes importfint to iearn its actnal digestive ca])acity, 
which may always be done, by closely watching the m;i- 
nure dropped, and conforming the amount of the ration 
to its distinctive characteristics. When, as will frecpient- 
ly be the case in a herd of cows thus fed, the mamire of 
any animal assumes a whitish mealy appearance, and is 
soft and watery, the rations are too large, niid should he 
gradually shortened until the desired coiidition of the 
droppings is reached, which shonld be about three (Z) 
evacuations daily, of the color and consistency of ordina- 
ry winter nuinure. Tf 

COSTIVENESS 

ensues upon the feeding of a given ration to an animal, 
the manure will be rarely dro])pe<l, and always har«l, 
dark colored, and expelled in small round l)alls. In such 
cases the amount of the ration should be <ji:i'adujdl\- in- 
creased, until the desired reguhii'ity and consistency is 
reached. This condition however is sometimes occa- 
sioned by want of exercise, and care should be used in 
increasiiio' the ration of meab One half liour each day. 



50 - 

when it is ordinary winter weather, for drinking and out 
do<jr exercise, will obviate costiveness from sedentary 
habits. If the animal can be thoroughly curried daily, 
and watered in the stable, the effect of the food eaten 
will be much more satisfactory than if allowed to run 
out in the cold for a longer period. In case, from any 
cause whatever, 

SCOUKING 

actually sets in. the ration should be withheld, or the 
meal thoroughly cooked; and this should be persisted in 
until the bowels become regular. If the case is obstinate, 
feeding scalded milk is one of the safest remedies known. 
The juice of hemlock bark boiled until strong, or of the 
root of the common sumac, is sometimes used with suc- 
cess. The animal loses flesh very fast when in this con- 
dition: and no pains should be spared, either to save her 
from getting into it, or curing her at once, when unfortu- 
luitely in. Some cows will digest much more meal than 
others of the same size, and a ration that would cause 
costiveness in the one, might prove the occasion of scour- 
ing in the other, but such are extreme cases, and rarely 
occur. A perfectly safe remedy when an aninnd is 
found incapable of eating, without scouring, is to 

SCALD THE MEAL, 

and persist in the practice, increasing the (piantity until 
her wants are fully satisfied, and improvement in condi- 
tion is manifest. He who feeds meal intelligently, will 
soon learn, that each of his animals has a capacity of her 
own, tV)r the digestion of her food, which is irrespective 
of size, weight or general condition as to flesh; and to 
this he must conform; and he will iind the amount re- 
cpiired to meet the wants of any given animal can be 
determii»ed by no fixed rule, but is learned by close ob- 
servation. Digestion, and the assimilation ot the elements 
of food, are mysteries which science has never as yet 
been able to unfold. Unseen and invisible agencies si- 
lently work out their mission, under the fixed and uni- 



51 

form laws of nature, within all living beings. If we 
knew all the mysteries of digestion, it would enable us 
almost to baffte death itself, in the human family, pro- 
longing our lives beyond the limits of the patriarchal 
age; and empower us to make greater improvements in 
our domestic animals than the wildest visionaries {^gen- 
erally falsely so called) have ever dared to predict. Sci- 
ence is gradually but surely working out the great prr>b- 
lem. Professor L. B. Arnold, who needs no eulogy from 
me, for all his writings and works praise him, under 
date of February 4, 1875, writes me as follows: 

'•Analysis of the various digestive juices is of little ac- 
count. The recent investigations in the physiology ot 
digestion, in which I have taken an active part, show 
that all the changes involved in digestioii are of a fer- 
mentative character; i. e , they are ctiri-ied on by the ac- 
tion of ferments, and chemists in analyzing the juice in- 
variably kill the ferment, and thus put out of sight the 
very thing they are looking for. 

It has recently been proved, that saliva acts as a yeast, 
and multiplies its power the same' as any other leaven, 

* * '■ I have fully demonstrated, that gastric juice 
acts also as a yeast, and that the ferment may be nudti- 
plied and carried from day to day, as a housewife con- 
tinues her yfiast: and have also done the same with sec- 
tions of the intestines and bladder. The efficacy of the 
pancreatic juice lies also in a ferment, the power of which 
is capable of being extended from batch to batch; that is 
to say, a certain quantity of pancreatic juice is capable, 
in a given time, of converting a given amount of starch 
into sugar, and after having done this (all it was capa- 
ble of doing in a given time), it can then be used again 
to convert another portion of starch into sugar in an 
equal length of time.- ' 

This limit to the capacity of the digestive organs and 
agencies should always be borne in mind, in feeding 
concentrated food. In the remastication of coarse food, 
nature provides a feeder, which is never at fault in this 
respect at least, for the food j^asses in small (piantities. 



under tlie iiction of the digestive juices: coarse food also 
lies in the iirst stomach or ruuien for days, before it is 
remasticated; and without doubt, becomes partially fer- 
mented prior to its passage into the region of the digest- 
ive secretions; the same fermentation takes place with 
the meal, and the quantity fed at one time must be small 
if waste is to be avoided. 

IN FEEDING FOR FATTENING 

this should be borne in mind. The large quantities of 
concentrated food usually fed must of necessity be in a 
great measure lost. Not over two (puirts of such food 
should ever be given at one time, and tln-ee feedings in 
twenty-four hours, if coarse food is given also, would cer- 
tainly be the full extent of almost any animal's digestive 
capacity. It is impossible, if coarse food is given liber- 
ally, to prevent a waste of meal unless the quantity is 
small. In wintering 

YOUNG STOCK, CALVES, ETC., 

it is a question to be determined by long experience, 
whether an exclusive meal diet would be advantageous 
to the full development of the stomachs of the animal. 
Ordinarily, if any organ is not in use, it ceases to devel- 
op and grow, and it may be found that young stock, 
which have not arrived at maturity, will have small and 
defective rumens, as far as capacn'ty to hold a large quan- 
tity of coarse food is concerned, if fed for any considera- 
ble length of time on clear meal. A portion of meal dai- 
ly, and a ration of coarse food, would seem tr> be safer; 
but actual tests are better than theories. In changing 

FROM MEAL TO HAY, 

which should always be done if ])ossible with dairy cows, 
when they commence makino; ba«:, it is desirable to do it 
gradually. The conditions are reversed from what they 
were in tlie stomachs of the animal, when the change was 
made from hay to meal. Then the rumen was full of 
coarse food, but now it is empty. It has l)een the expe- 



53 

rieiice of the writer, that animals once aceustome<l to 
meal diet, greatly prefer it; at any rate they generalh' 
refuse coarse food at first, and the very best of fresh hay 
has little powei* to tempt the appetite. It takes days, 
more or less (according to size and appetite of the ani- 
mal), to fill the first stomach so that she will commence 
remasticatioii. Unless a portion of meal was fed during 
this period, hunger and sufiering must of necessity ensue, 
for there is positively no digestion and assimilation of 
the coarse food while it is in the first stomach and previ- 
ous to the resumption of remastication; except the starch 
and sugar released by fermentation. Wetting the hay 
with a little brine, or steaming it, might tempt the appe- 
tite of the animal to resume the discarded habit oi' gomg 
to work upon coarse food. Care should alsr) be taken to 
feed all the salt that an animal will eat with relish, while 
this change is going on, and especially water, and this 
should always be done summer and winter. If she is 
ie(\ dajly with a portion of meal, that will be evacuated 
as before the change; but no hay manure can be dropped 
until after rumination has begun, and the food has had 
time to pass throuorh all its accustomed stashes. When 
the cow drops her calf, if, as is sometimes the case, hay 
or coarse food cannot be obtained, the animal can be 
kept entirely upon meal, even while giving milk; but it 
is to be justified alone upon the plea of necessity, and 
practiced with caution. Generous feeding of all the nu- 
tritious and succulent food which she can be induced to 
eat, should be the rule, after three or four days from par- 
turition. It will be fr»und that she will bear from five to 
six quarts meal daily under her changed conditions, with- 
out causing scouring, and it may be even more; but it 
might be advisable to wet or scald it. The mammary 
glands, which were dormant before, now act with re- 
newed force and activity; this activity gradiially dimin- 
ishes as the months roll on. The fiovv of milk will not 
be large upon clear meal, but its quality will be excel- 
lent; and if made into butter, the amount from a given 
(luantitv will be satisfactory. It has been the invariable 



experience of the author, that cows wintered in this man- 
ner yield a ] archer 

FLOW OF MILK 

when turne<^l out to grass, than when wintered in the ^ 
usual manner upon hay and ordinai-y coarse food. The i 
reasons for this result he does not venture to give, as ; 
they would be only his opinions founded upon theory, 
but the fact is indisputable. Another sequence he has ; 
noticed, which is a remarkable tendency 

TO LAY ON FLESH. 

This is so marked, that the past season some of his 
cows, giving a good flow of milk, have been fit for the 
butcher as early as the month of August; a circumstance 
which he certainly never knew to occur with cows in 
milk, which were wintered on hay. The dairyman not 
unfrequently has in his herd cows that have an excep- 
tioiuil value, either as great liiilkers, or as giving milk of 
peculiar richness and color, and which are very vfilnable ; 
in giving tone and color to his whole dairy product. The 
usefulness of such cows 

CAN* BE PROLONGED, 

even after their teeth begin to fail, by feeding more meal 
during the winter months and less coarse food. Hay, , 
corn lodder, and all kinds ot straw, no matter how early 
cut, or how caretully cured, has a coating of hard woody 
fibre, I'equiring good teeth for iriastication and remastica- 
tion. If such food is given to an animal with poor teeth, , 
it will be found impossible for her to thrive, and lay on 
flesh; but if thoroughly steamed and cooked, the case is 
different; it being by the process rendered fully equal in 
digestibility to the young and tender grasses of tlie pas- 
ture. But, where steaming is impracticable, Indian meal 
(cooking will not hurt it), oatmeal, bran, brewers' grains, , 
linseed oil cake, or cotton seed meal, fed in suitable com- 
binations in suitable quantities, may take the place of all I 
coarse food; and the aninuil kept much longer than is i 
possible on hay and the usual treatment. Such animals ; 



00 

should have meal all the year rounrl. A vast amount of 
food is lost, except as manure, every winter, by 

OYER FEEDING 

for the ])roduc'tion of milk, to supply our villages, large 
towns, and cities, throughout the country. Milk in the 
winter, and early beef in the spring, always command a 
high price, and springers and farrow cows are bought up 
in the fall, and fed with this double object in view. As 
a rule, this class of feeders lose sight of the great fact, 
that there is a limit to the digestive capacity of their an- 
imals; and in their eagerness to produce both milk and 
beef at the same time, overcrowd the fourth stomach and 
intestines with a larger amount of nutrition than can 
possibly be assimilated within a given time. If fine food, 
like coarse, was remasticated, the loss would be less, tor 
it would have to pass, in small quantities, through the 
whole process of digestion. If the animal is given all the 
coarse food it will eat, and that of a very nutritious qual- 
ity, remastication will nearly furnish all the material 
that the digestive organs and juices can handle, the sys- 
tem l.)eing clogged with a large amount of worthless mat- 
ter which has to be expelled. Adding to this from four 
to six and even eight cpuirts of rich Indian meal at a 
single feed, to pass into the rumen and by natural pro- 
cesses thr<nigh all the stomachs in connection with re- 
masticated coarse food, not only insures a great waste in 
material, but has a tendency to surfeit and sicken, in 
some cases, the animal. Less coarse food and much less 
tine, the latter to be given at intervals as far as possible 
betw^een the feedings of the coarse, will be found to pro- 
duce rr.ore milk and beef, and of a better cpudity, than 
can possibly be obtained by the crowding process. When- 
ever, and wherever there is much scouring, there will be 
great loss. Whenever meal of any kind, or any kind of 
food which from its nature and condition is not remasti- 
cated, is fed, it is all important that it should be as fine 
as possible. If fed dry, it is moistened with saliva and 
passed in smaller quantities lntr> the stomach than if fed 



56 

wet; l)esides the saliva assists fenneiitation in the ru- 
men; but if scalded or cooked, and allowed to stand un- 
til fermentation begins, digestion will be thereby assisted. 

For the production of rich milk and butter of superior 
(puility, Indian meal is invaluable to the dairyman; but 
when he is enabled by its use, to laugh at the calamity 
of short and defective hay crops, and to use it as a sub- 
stitute for coarse food under all eontingencies, the chief 
uncertainties and discouragements of his business are 
overcome; for corn is the most certain crop of our coun- 
try and seldom fails. Judicious feeding of dairy stock, 
both while dry and in milk, as well as for the produc- 
tion of beef, will, when practiced, greatly enhance its 
value. That these pages may contribute to such a result 
is the earnest wish of the author. 

Since writing the above, letters of incpiiry have been 
received from various parties in different sections of the 
United States, asking for information upon some points 
not treated distinctly under the foregoiiig heads, which I 
herew^ith answer to the best of my ability. 

THE SENSATION OF HLTNGEE 

cannot arise from the al)sence of coarse bulky food in 
the first stomach. It is only nature crying out for nutri- 
tion. Whenever the organs and agencies of digestion, in 
the fourth stomach, bowels, etc., have exhausted the ele- 
mentary constituents of the food last eaten, by carrying 
them to such parts of the body as are in want, if there is 
any deficiency in the supplies, a craving arises for more, 
and this is hunger. 

The distension of the first three stomachs and the 
performance of their distinctive functions are not sus- 
pended by feeding meal. There is no danger in the 

HEATING PROPERTIES OF MEAL 

fed as an exclusive diet in the small (]uantities re- 
commended. If fed in larger quantities over-heat- 
in o- would be lial)ie to arise, as the food once ta- 



ken in these, nnist lay for days, and take its turn in 
passing out. The "verj- little" water drunk, when on an 
exclusive meal diet, demonstrates, that there is no un- 
natural or dangerous heat generated. I am asked by 
"one almost persuaded," if it would not be better to feed 
three or four pounds of 

HAY 

along with the meal, even if the quantity of meal was 
reduced 'i Possibly it jnight be, but I think not, and I 
give my reasons as follows: A small quantity of hay, or 
any other coarse food, would oidy keep u[) the old 
habits which it is desirable to break off. There might 
not be any loss of food, if this small quantity was given 
in connection with a small amount of meal, but there 
would be a great loss of quiet; and thus a larger amount 
of food would be required, to keep the animal in a given 
condition as to flesh. Another asks, if it would not be 
better to cut and steam five pounds of hay, mixing the 
meal with it, and 

FEEDING THE MIXTURE TOGETHER ? 

To which I reply: I can only theorize, never having test- 
ed it; but my judgment would tell me that if large quan- 
tities of hay and meal were to be fed, for the purpose of 
getting a large flow of milk, or of fattening an animal, 
or both, this might be advantageous. Prof. Stewart is 
a good authority upon this practice. But if light quan- 
tities are to be used, to be fed to cows not in milk, I 
should certainly prefer clear meal. 

FEEDING MEAL ALONE 

is just as safe as feeding coarse food alone, if proper care 
is taken to observe the rules laid down in this w^ork. 

In reply to several cori'espondents who incpiire Jis to 
the feasibility ot feeding meal exclusively 

ALL THE YEAR ROUND, 

I will sav that o;i"een ajrass is the natural food of the ru- 
minant. In a state of nature they would oidy thrive in 
latitudes where this is constantlv available. Thov are 



5S 

naturally very plastic. By domestication and varia- 
tions in climate and food, supplemented with judicious 
crossing, all the difterent breeds have been established 
with their peculiar chanicteristics. All have become ac- 
customed to living in an unnatural state, upon unnatu- 
ral food, during our winter months. (I call dry hay an 
unnatural food) but in the country, when grass again 
grows, the ruminant roams the lields in a state of nature. 
Place them in confinement within sight of green fields, 
and their natural longing for grass is very sti'ong. You 
may tempt their appetites with the nicest delicacies, and 
if you deprive them wholly ot grass, they will be uneasy. 
In the winter months the case is different, and cattle ac- 
ce[>t the meal in lieu of all other food, with the most per- 
fect quiet and content. Cattle accustomed to stall feed- 
ing in summer (as in our large towns, villages and cities), 
would doubtless accept the meal all the year round; but 
if cows, giving milk, clear meal would be too heating in 
warm weather. Diluted with bran, mill feed, buckwheat 
bran, brewers' grains or other condensed food, it could 
be m.ide the staple food with great profit. So nho cows 
or other cattle running in pasture, generally eat it with 
avidity, and 

A LARGER NUMBER 

can be pastured upon any given field, increasing and 
rendering very rich the milk product. Where corn is 
cheap dairying should prosper. The western farmer will 
learn, after many days, for he is slow at learning, that 
he can do better with his corn than to sell it from 15 to » 
20 cents per bushel; while the eastern dairyman will al- 
so find, unless he feeds less hay and more meal, that his 
boasted profits are a 7nyth. 

Animals which have never been fed meal, may, in 
some instances, recjuire a short course of preparation be- 
fore placing them upon an exclusive meal diet. Feed 
such animals a small allowance daily, in connection with i 
their accustomed food, for at least two weeks previous. 
When they manifest a preference for meal over hay, it t 
will be safe to withdraw the hay altogether, in most ca- ■ 



59 

ses: or the hii}^ may be tapered off b)' degrees, if the ta- 
pering is not too long. 

It is the experience of the author that calves dro])ped 
from meal fed mothers 

MAKE SUPERIOR COWS. 

As a rule the more the cow is domesticated the better 
she is for milk, and the more yon feed her meal, the 
more gentle and docile she becomes. 

The eifect of climate in modifying the wants and re- 
quirements of animals as it regards the amount of food 
necessary to maintain one of given weight in store con- 
dition, or while giving milk, has hitherto failed of recog- 
nition; but it appears to be taken for granted that the 
German experimeirs in feeding have established fixed 
rules; and that the German ration is the ration for all 
times and under all conditions. This is claiming far too 
much. If the temperature of the stable is changed, the 
amount of food must also be changed in order to produce 
uniform results. The uniformity of nature holds only 
under imiforni conditi()ns. Some cjittle have a greater 
digestive capacity than others; some assimilate a larger 
proportion of certain food constituents, than others of the 
same size: some take on more flesh and some give more 
milk than others from the same food. Change the con- 
ditions and the contrast is more marked still. All ani- 
mal life is subject to the same general laws which com- 
pel the consumption of large amounts of heat producing 
food in cold latitudes. The results then, in these German 
experiments with the cow and the ox, would have varied 
with any marked change of temperature: so also with 
difierent cattle; for no two are ]>recisely alike in their 
capacity to assimilate food. Mr. John Adams, of Inger- 
soll, Ontario, (Canada), wintered a herd of 50 cows upon 
meal exchisively for many weeks, in 1874, which was 
(he writes me), one of the coldest winters ever known in 
that region; feeding an average of 4 quarts daily, with 
no signs of overfeeding; while I, during the same months, 
a few degrees south of him, was equally successful in 



(]0 

feeding only an jivenige of 3 quarts. Tlie reader will 
understand from these remarks that a 

FIXED RATION 

answering for all latitudes, under all conditions, is an im- 
possibility. The conditions govern the amount of food 
re(|uired, independent of measure or scales; and the 
judgment must be used, whether the food is hay or meal, 
feeding a little less in warm weather than in cold; and 
if feeding meal exclusively, grading the amount l)y the 
condition of the dro])pings accr)rding to the rules hereto- 
fore given. For an animal of about 900 lbs. live weight 
— not giving milk — the mercury ranging from 15 to 20 
deii'rees Fahrenheit, if the stable is as warm as it should 
be, and as interest and humanity alike require, 

3 QUARTS OF GOOD MEAL DAILY 

is ail am[)le ration for most animals; but if they can di- 
gest more, the condition of the dropjjings will indicate 
the fact with unerring certainty, and the ration shonld 
l)e ada|)ted to their requirements. 

The wise men of this generation, since the agitation of 
this meal question, have persistently claimed that meal 
was too lieating to be fed exclusively; and that it should 
be diluted with hay or coarse food to counteract "the 
heating tendency f and yet they recognize the im- 
portance of keeping the stables warm, acknowledging 
that thereby a large amount ol food may be saved; and 
that shelter and warmth are an equivalent for so nmch 
food. The composition of corn is found by analysis (see 
page 25th) to be exactly fitted to the animal's wants in 
cold weather. It is rich in carbon, starch and sugar. In 
the process of digestion starch is decomposed, and its car- 
bon made available, first to sustain respiration and the 
aninud heat, and second to increase the store of fat, but 
no fat can be made until three primary wants are sup- 
plied. Good yellow corn generally contains about 4 per 
cent, of oil; while hay seldom has one per cent; but the 
riclier the food in oil, the faster fat is laid up by the ani- 



61 

mill coiisiuuiiig it. This reiterated objection to meal, on 
account of its heating properties, is founded then upon 
^rejtcdioe, instead of science, ^o fi/rstrclass scientific 
man has ever, to the writer's knowledge, raised this ob- 
jection; neither have they set up the foolish claim that 
the German experiments in feeding, are in any sense an- 
tagonistic to my meal ration: or that they establish an 
infallil)le rule for feeding under all conditions. 

' FEEDING MEAL EXCLUSIVELY 

<luring cold weather, is in perfect harmony with scientific 
principles; and the practice is to be condemned or a]> 
proved from actual results: and these, so far, most hap- 
pily for the world, and in spite of all the croakers in it, 
and their name is legion, have been highly satisfactory. 
Feedijig meal alone has ])roved (in every instance yet re^ 
ported, and they are numerous), where the rules laid 
down in this pamphlet are observed, just as safe, and far 
more economical than feeding hay alone. 

Many letters r)f inquiry from Dairymen have been re- 
ceived, concerning the propriety of feeding meal during 
the summer months, to cows running in the pasture; es- 
pecially when the feed is short, and during seasons of 
drouth. In reply, I most earnestly commend the prac- 
tice to the favorable consideration of all Dairyinen. 
Whenever from any cause the pasture is short, meal, 
bran, or concentrated food of some kind should certainlj^ 
be freely fed. ]^o nuiii can afford to let his cows shrink 
in their milk production, for the want of food; for no 
amount of after feeding can restore the flow of milk for 
the renuiinder of the milking season. This is not all the 
damage: it has a tendency to establish a habit in the an- 
imal of shrinking her milk ever after, when the same pe- 
riod arrives. If we dry a cow off at the end of 4 or 6 
months milking, once, it fixes a hal)it extremely ditficult 
to overcome in after years. A natural shrinkage always 
occurs after successful coupling with the nude; as some 
of the lacteal glands are diverted to the support and 



C>2 

nourishment of the foetus. This diversion increases, from 
necessity, iis the f(Btus grows. No other shrinkage should 
be allowed to occur during the milking season, which 
should last from 9 to 10 months. Dairying cannot prove 
very successful w^iere these natural law^s are unheeded. 

From a desire to thoroughly test the effects of exclu- 
sive meal feeding; on mv herd, I have abstained from 
feeding anything but the grass of the pasture, durmg the 
summer months, for the last three years; but my neigh- 
bor, Mr. John Rhinehart, of this town, has practiced feed- 
ing meal during the entire suimuer, for several years, 
with marked success. He feeds 100 lbs. meal weekly, 
to 4 cow^s, whether pastures are good or poor; and aver- 
ages 300 lbs. butter yearly to the cow — has tried bran, 
millfeed, and other kinds of condensed food; and is sat- 
islied that corn meal alone yields the best returns in 
milk. He laughs at the popular idea that meal is of 
^'too heating a nature'^ to feed cows. 

On the other hand, my friend, Mr. O. C. Blodgett, of 
Fredonia, feeds his herd of 24 cows each their six quarts 
of bran daily, hoth suTniner and wvnter^ in milk or dry, 
and claims that it pays him well; that his cows respond 
to this treatment better the second season than the hret; 
and the third season than the second; reaching their best 
the third. Many of his herd are grade Jerseys, and he 
averages about 250 lbs. of butter to the cow. 

Many inquiries have also been received concerning 

THE WINTERING OF SHEEP 

under my system of feeding. I have had no experience 
in feeding sheep; but the stomachs of this class of rumi- 
nants are identical, physiologically, with those of the 
cow; and I have no doubt as to the effect of an exclu- 
sive meal diet upon them. One of the most successful 
sheep raisers of Michigan, informs me that he has win- 
tered his flock of bearing ewes, almost exclusively upon 
corn for several seasons; and that he invariably gets 
much iiner lambs, and heavier fleeces of wool, with less 
casualities, under this treatment than anv other. He 



03 

adds also, that liis wethers when thus wintered, are lit 
for the butcher very early in the spring. This corres- 
ponds with the effects of exclusive meal feeding upon 

STOCK CAITLE, 

which fatten in an incredible short time (after a winter — 
or a few weeks even of exclusive meal feeding) wheji 
turned to grass in the spring. Those who w^sh early and 
chea]) beet^ will Und this system of feeding invaluable. 

The author has the satistaction of aimouncing also, that 
he has recently demonstrated the practicability of 

FATTENING ANIMALS 

upon an exclusive meal diet. The experiment was made 
upon a two-year-old heifer, at the request of Mr. J. F. 
Elsom, Agricidtural Editor of "The Chautauqua Farm- 
er," to satisfy that imbelieving gentleman, that meal, 
passes through all the stomachs the same as coarse food; 
and that these organs are in all respects as healthy under 
a meal diet, as any other. (A description of the condi- 
tion of the stomachs will be found upon another page). 
The animal in question was somevfhat thin in flesh when 
placed upon an exclusive meal diet, the 25th of Dec, 
1876. Iler rations for the first six weeks was a trifle 
over two quarts per <\<\\—fed dry, which 1)arely sufliced 
to hold her in store condition. The meal was then scald- 
ed, and the ration increased to 5 quarts per diem, and 
continued without variation for six weeks longer when 
she was butchered. Her improvement in condition un- 
der the new ration, w^as very marked and rapid; much 
more so than any other stall-fed animal which it has been 
my fortune to see, imder a process of fattening, and fed 
the most approved and liberal rations of coai*se and flue 
food. During this last period she was confined to her 
stanchion, and strictly to the meal diet, and drank less 
than an average of one gallon of water per diem. Du- 
ring the last 3 weeks, in consequence of her long and 
close confinement, she became very restless and uneasy; 
and it was the opinion of those who had been in the hal )- 
it of watching her closely during the whole period offal- 



telling, that her gains were made mostly during the first 
3 weeks; and that she was not as fat when butchered, as 
she was 3 weeks previous; nevertheless she was found to 
he in as p'ood condition as animals at that unfavorable 
age for fattening usually are. Some who ate of the meat 
fancied tliat it tasted of the meal; while others thought 
it unusually sweet and line. From this linuted experi- 
ence, I am not pre[)ared to say whether the quality of 
beef, thus fattened, is better or poorer, as food for the ta- 
ble, than beef made in the usual manner of stall-feeding; 
further tests are needed, and will be duly nuide; but L 
am prepared to affirm, that animals may be fattened un- 
der this system, cheapek and quicker, than any other 
known process of stall-feeding. 

From this experiment in feeding, 1 can confidently re- 
conunend to those who have young cattle — or old — that 
they wish to carry through the winter, without feeding 
hay or other coarse food, that the young cattle can be 
kept growing very finely — and faster than by any other 
known food — by scalding the meal; w^hich obviates all 
danger from scouring; and that cattle in years, may, in 
this manner, and l)y this method, be carried through the 
winter, or from grass to grass, in just such condition as 
to flesh as may be desired. I hold this new discovery to 
be of immense importance to the world. There woidd 
be no necessity of keeping animals thus fed closely con- 
fined; and an hour's exercise in the yard when the 
weather was fine would be unobjectionable. 

It is the author's intention to contimie his experiments 
in meal feeding, collecting and publishing all possible re- 
liable information and data upon the subject; making a 
work that shall grow in future editions into a larger vol- 
ume; and which shall be an invalualjle text book to all 
who feed ruminants. Any information of results from 
those who follow this practice will be gratefidly received 
and dulv credited. 



TESTIMONIALS 



The following letters are from representative men who 
are in every respect worthv of confirlenee: 

MORE TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF MEAL FEEDING. 

It is a common remark that "exj^erience teaches a dear 
school.*' Sometimes she does and sometimes she does 
not. Having noticed in The Times the report of Mi*. L. 
W. Miller's lectnre on "Meal Feeding," delivered l)efore 
the Dairv Convention at Meadville, Pa., last Jannarv, 
we conclnded to try his plan on a small scale. We se- 
lected two cows, one five and the other eight vears old — 
hotli dry — and, withont any preliminary preparation, 
placed them in a comfortable stable, (where all cows 
ought to be during these cold winters, meal or no meal), 
and gave them each three pints of good corn meal, dry, 
morning and evening, allowing no salt; carried them wa- 
ter twice a day, as they recpnred but little, and seldom 
let them out of the stal)le. And here we would remark, 
as "A Pennsylvania Farmer"" thinks they would not be 
contented, that after the second or third day they seemed 
perfectly contented and easy, as much so as those beside 
them getting tiill "rations," but giving milk. We have 
seen cattle, yes, and men too, with their bellies a little 
too full for comfort. We continued this course f<tr ten 
weeks, when we gradually discontinued the meal, add- 
ing a little hay, salt, and grass daily. They drop])ed 
their calves, of good size and appearance, in due season. 
Doth cows and calves are doino- aduiirablv: in fact, we 



never lutd cows or calves do better. We propose pursu- 
ing the Scinie course during the coming winter, whethei" 
hay is plenty or not. As we understand Mr. Miller, this 
plan is not recommended tor cows giving milk, l)nt mere- 
ly for wintei'ing dry cows as economically as possible. 
Cows oivino; milk should be induced to eat and dicrest as 
nuu^h as possible. We say digest, for we have often seen 
cows fed more than they thr>roughly digested, thus ma- 
king them feverish, lessening the secretion of milk, and 
deterir>rating its quality. W. Bp:ai)Les. 

Cadiz, Ohio. 



mi*:al feeding. 

The following letter is sent to us for publication by 
Mr. T.. W. Miller, with the statement that ''Mr. Gaylord 
is a representative farmer of Cattaraugus county:" 

L. W. Millp:k — Dear Sir: I will answer your cpies- 
tions in the order in which you ask them. 

1. I did feed seven cows according to your rules laid 
<lowMi in pamphlet — varied oidy in this: one cow^ scoured 
twice, and 1 gave her a single handful of hay and chaff' 
twice. I fed some five weeks and some ten weeks, ac- 
cordinp* to the times of their couiine; in. 

2. They were, I thiidv, a very little thinner than those 
hay-fed, and but a very little. 

3. Calves all full size and strong; better than from the 
same cows last spring, when all cow^s were fed on hay. 

4. Milk products rather better than last year, but I 
thiidv the age of the cows produced the improvement — 
all the seven but one are six years old this spring, and 
one five years old. 

5. Meal feeding has more than answered my expecta- 
tions, and is a success. 

6. None of my neighbors have tried it. When about 
to commence the trial of your system, one of my neigh- 
bors said to me: "Don't try it on more than one cow— 
you can't aff'ord to lose seven head, but losing one won't 
hurt you much." I had in that barn just 14, and told 



him I slioiild not lose any. I was satisfied of tfie fact of 
your success, and should trv it to the end. Tlien said 
lie, "you'll lose just seven head." 

Like everybody else, I had to go from home to learn 
what my success had l>een — and learned at the store twr> 
miles from my house, that my cattle spent their time 
lowing for something to eat, and that they were so ])oov 
they had to he helped up. At honje I never should have 
learned anything of the kind. The cattle seemed to be 
contented — draidv little, arid were to all a])pearances 
strong and healthy. 

The time is coming when your s^^stem will be very ex- 
tensively adopted by intelligent dairymen. Your rules 
need no changes or amendments — they are right. 

Perhaps I should have mentioned that one of the meal 
fed cows retained the placenta, but it was from a cause 
wholly foreign to the feed. She did as well as cows dr> 
under such circumstances, but seemed to- regain her 
strength sooner than those fed in the ordinary manner. 

Versailles, N. Y., June 25. IT. C. Gaylokd. 



ANOTHER REPOKT ON MEAJ. FEEDING. 

Under date of Liberty, Sullivan Co., N. Y., Jnly 10th, 
George Hill writes Limis W. Miller as follows: 

In reply to your questions, I will state tliat I did prac- 
tice meal feeding according to the rules laid down in 
™ your pamphlet, on 14 c<^ws, from January 8th until 
March 10th, 1876, only varying the ration in (^ase of 
looseness of the bowels, when I fed a less quantity with 
satisfactory results. 

2. The cow^s thus fed held their own as to coiulition 
fully while thus fed. 

3. Thev came in all rio;ht. 

4. So far as I have tested their milk product, I am 
convinced that they have done better than the balance 
of my herd, which were wintered on hay and grain and 

kwere equally as good in former years. 
5. The calves dropped were large, fine and healthy. 



as 

6. I ain gliid to say that exclusive meal feeding thus 
far, has been a success beyond my expectations. 

I will state that a portion of my cows got lousy tow- 
ards the last of my feeding, and as usual these did not 
do as well as the others — Avhich were in better condition 
when I left off, than when I commenced meal teeding. 
You are at liberty to publish this, and I shall be glad to 
bear testimony at any time in favor of your system oi* 
feeding. 



To O. C. Blodgett, Sec W. N. Y. D. Assooiation: 

Moon's Station, Chant. Co., iN. Y., June 20, 1877. 

In answer to your questions in your letter this day re- 
ceived, concerning the advantages or disadvantages 
which I have realized from feeding meal on the "Miller 
plan,'' I will say that I fed 18 out of 44 head, (mostly 
dairy cows) for a period of fifty days last winter. With 
nie this new plan lias proved a decided success, and 1 
have substantial grounds every time I milk this portion 
of my herd, for congratulating myself for having tested 
it. For the first four weeks my meal was finely ground, 
and my cows gained in flesh; but the last three weeks I 
fed contrary to Mr. Miller\s rtoles, meal that was coarse, 
under which they lost fully as much as they had previ- 
ously gained, and I noticed a slight tendency towards 
scouring; but when put back upon hay, no stranger 
could pick out the meal fed cows from the herd. Some 
of the 18 head were heifers, and young, and my judg- 
ment is that the meal diet did not answer their wants as 
well as it did those more advanced in years. They 
calved all right; the calves were tine, and everything 
about them was satisfactory. I paid $1.30 per cwt. tor 
the meal, and the cost of keeping was about one-half that 
of hay at %\0 per ton, while the labor of hauh'ng and 
feedinty the meal was oidv nominal. Now, as to after 
results: I am getting much more milk from those meal- 
fed cows than I ever got before — decidedly more than 



I 



09 

from the rest of my lierd, which were wintered in the 
usual mnnner upon hay, the cows all running in the 
same pasture, and treated alike. Of course I attribute 
this increased milk production to the meal feeding. My 
opinion is that this new system of feeding develops in 
some way — I will not pretend to say how — the milking 
qualities of the cow, but those who practice it should fol- 
low, as nearly as possible, Mr, Miller's rules of feeding, 
as laid down in his pamphlet. 

H. T. Dunbar. 



Iv 



The Stomachs of Ruminants and 
Their Functions. 



The digestion of food is a ])rocess of tlie most varied 
kind in different animals. In the simple amoeba a mass 
of homogenous protoplasm makes up the entire organic 
structure, and performs at once the various functions of 
digestion. As we ascend in the scale of being, v^'e find 
an increasing difference in these organs as well as those 
which serve tor other purposes with elaborations and sub- 
divisions which bear a strict relation to tlie habits of the 
animal and the conditions in which it lives. The differ- 
ence in the digestive organs of the carnivora and herbi- 
vora afford a remarkable instance of this. The first pos- 
sess a verv capacious stomach, in which the highly ni- 
trogenous food is long retained and digested hy the se- 
cretions of the gastric glands. The bowels are short and 
of small capacity in accordance witli the nature of the 
food. In the herbivora, on the other hand, which subsist 
on food rich in carbo-hydrates and comparatively poor 
in albuminoids, the true digesting stomach is small and 
the intestines long and capacious. The capacity of the 
stomach of the dog is three-fifths of that of the entire gas- 
tro-intestinal canal, whereas that of the horse is only 
about two twenty -fifths of the al)dominal part of the ali- 
mentary tube. 

At first sight the ruminant appears to be an exception 
to this rule, as the gastric cavities amount to no less than 
seven-tenths of the abdominal part of the digestive canal; 
but the fourth or true digestive stomach, which alone 
(corresponds to that of the horse or dog, is relatively as 
small as in the solipede. The first three stomachs are 



71 

iiijiiiily inaceratiiig and triturating cavities, in which the 
coarse and iiiiperfectlj masticated herbage is stored, trit- 
urated and partially dissolved, while waiting for further 
mastication, or for its }>ropulsion into tlie fourth or true 
stomach. 

FIRST STOMACH. 

Of the four compartments oj* stomachs, the first 
{paimdi, 7ni7nen) is incomparably the largest. It has an 
average capacity of 250 quarts in the ox, and makes *iip 
about nine-tenths of the mass of the four stomachs. It 
occupies the entire left side of the abdomen, from the 
short ribs in front to the hip bones behind, and is marked 
externally by a deep notcli at each end, and by two 
grooves connecting these on the upper and lower surfa- 
ces respectively, togethei* with smaller grooves diverging 
from these, on each side. These notches and o-rooves 
correspond to internal folds supported by strong muscu- 
lar bands, and partially dividing the cavity into a right 
and left sac, and into interior, posterior and mediuui 
compartments. The entire imier surface of this organ, 
excepting the muscular pillars, and a snudl portion of 
the left anterior sac bordering on the second stomach, is 
thickly covered by papillge, mostly flattened and leaf- 
like, with ail' elongated ovate outline, but some are coni- 
cal or fungiform, especially in the left sac. 

SECOND STOMACH. 

The 'second stomach, [reticidum), though spoken of as 
a separate organ, is a simple i)rolongation forward of the 
anterior left sac of the rumen. It is separated from the 
rumen by a prominent fold, and the communicating ope- 
m'ng is so large that the semi-liquid contents pass freely 
from one cavity to the other during the movements of the 
stomachs. Its most prominent characteristic is the hon- 
ey-comb-like arrangement of its mucous membrane. 
These cells vary in size and depth, being largest at the 
lower part of the organ and smaller af the upper, or 
where it joins the paunch. They extend for a short dis- 
tance on the surface of that organ as well. The larger 



i'j: 



cells are again subdivided by smaller partitions in their 
interior. The walls of these eells are covered throughout 
by small, hard-pointed papillary eminences. These cells 
usually entangle many small, hard and pointed bodies 
which have been swallowed with the food, and it is trom 
this point that such bodies often pass to perforate vital 



organs. 



(ESOPHAGI: AN DEMI-CANAL. 



Connectinjj: these oro-ans with the g-ullet on the one 
hand and the third stomach on th6 other, is the demi-ca- 
nal, and may be described as the lower portion of the 
gullet, extending from right to left across the superior 
surface of the anterior left sac of the paunch and the re- 
ticulum, as far as the entrance of the third stomach. But 
in ])lace of its forming a jierfect tube as elsewhere, the 
lower halt of its walls is removed so as to leave a large 
opem'ng of about six inches in length, communicating 
with the rumen, reticulum and omasum. The margins 
of this opening are formed of thick pillars, made up 
largely of muscular tissue, in part forming loops around 
the ends of the canal, and in part diverging on the walls 
of the two first stomachs. This nniscle encircles the en- 
tire o])ening, and when contracted as those who advocate 
a certain theory claijn it may be and is brings its lips in 
close opposition, shutting off all communication between 
the gullet and first two stomachs, and securing a contin- 
uous, unbroken passage from the mouth t«) the third 
stomach. When, on the other hand, the muscular pil- 
lars of the demi-canal are relaxed, the canal remains 
open and there is no barrier to communication between 
the gullet and first two stomachs, or between these stom- 
achs and the third. 

THIRD STOMACH. 

The third stomach, {rjianifolds, oniamirrt\ a little larg- 
er than the reticulmn in the ox, lies over that organ to 
its right, and above the right anterior sac of the rumen. 
Its main characteristic is the leaf-like arrangement of its 
interior. From its walls on the convex aspect twelve or 



73 

fourteen folds extend quite to the opposite side of the vis- 
cus. In the interv {lis between these are an e(pnil num- 
ber of folds of about half the length. On each side of 
these are others still shorter, and so on until the smallest, 
which appear as simple ridges on the mucous membrane. 
In this way the flat surfaces of the folds are brought into 
close relation at all points in place of leaving larger in- 
tervals at the convex aspect of the organ, as would be the 
case if all were of the same length. These leaves are not 
simph^ folds of nuicous membrane, but contain also mus- 
cular tissue continued from the coat of the stomach, and 
enabling the adjacent leaves to move on each other for 
the trituration of the intervening food. Each leaf is 
studded on both sides with hard conical papilla^, hooked 
upward, and especially prominent towards the free mar- 
gins of the fold in the vicinity of the passage from the 
(lemi-canal to the fourth stomach. Similar hooks with a 
corresponding direction are tound in the lower part of 
the demi-canal, and all conciu* in drawing the food np- 
ward between the folds and retaining it until sufRcientlv 
line to escape. This organ lies beneath the short i-ibs on 
the right side. 

FOTJKTH STOMACH. 

The fourth or true digesting stomach [rennet, ahoina- 
surn) is pear-shaped, with the thick end forward, and 
connected with the manifolds. It extends backward in 
the right flank along the lower boi'der of the rumen, and 
terminates by a narrow opening in tlie small intestine. 
It is considerably larger than either the second or third 
stomach, but incomparably smaller than the first. Its 
outer surface shows a number of spiral markings rumnjig 
around it longitudinally, and corresponding to extensive 
loose folds of mucous membrane, as observed when it is 
laid open. Its outer surface is redder and more vascu- 
lar than that of the other stomachs, but its inner linino- 
or mucous membrane is especially soft, spongy and vas- 
cular, forming a marked contrast with the pale, opaque, 
thick and insensible mucous meml)rane liiiino- the r)thor 



stouuichs. When magnified, this vascnhir siirtUce pre- 
sents throughout a close aggregation of small depressions 
or alveoli leadino' into the t>:landnlar follicles which se- 
Crete the gastric juice. 

FUNCTIONS. 

The progress of food through the different stomachs can 
now be followed. It is a wide-spread belief that all food 
taken by the ox passes first into the rumen, from which 
it is propelled into the reticulum, is then sent back to the 
mouth for the second mastication, and is finally swal- 
lowed a second time, passing in this case into the third 
and fourth stomachs. No such regular and invarial)le 
course is pursued. After the first mastication of either 
coarse or fine food — as meal — it is, in swallowing, passed 
at once into the rumen, which is the natural receptacle 
of all food of whatever nature. The process of remasti- 
cation or "chewing the cud," is only performed upon 
coarse food which is separated from the tine before be- 
ing regurgitated to the mouth. When swallowed the 
second time it undoubtedly passes into the rumen again 
and after commingling again with the contents of that 
organ such portions of it as are too coarse.«for the grind- 
ing process of the omasum, may be raised again and 
again. It is possible for very small portions of finely 
divided food, to find its way when swallow^ed, directly 
to the omasum; but the natural receptacle of all food, is 
the first stomach; and the macerating processes therein 
carried on, are as essential to perfect digestion, as rumi- 
nation itself. The size of this receptacle and the large 
amoun.t which it contains, even after the animal has been 
subjected to fasting for 24 hours, the act of rumination 
being carried on during the period, is positive proof that 
the po])ubir theory of the direct passage of the food, af- 
ter rumination, to the 3d and 4th stomachs, is an error. 
The propulsion of liquids through the reticulum, by its 
contractions, into the demi-canal directly into the oma- 
sum, explains how the fine and macerated contents of 
the rumen find their way into that organ. This, and the 



i i) 



fonnation of pellets (cuds for reniastlcation) and theii' 
propulsion into the gullet with a mass of liquid, i'or that 
purpose, would seem to be the essential offices of the 
second stomach. The large opening between it and tlie 
rumen, and the muscular contractions of the hitter, by 
which its contents, solid and liquid, are kept constantly 
intermingled and floating, show what the normal condi- 
tion of this organ is; its contents of necessity being iden- 
tical with those of the former: but from the position in 
which it lies the volume of contents is small. 

The normal condition of the rumen, when the animal 
subsists upon coarse food, is the constant presence in 
that receptacle of a mass of solid and liquids equaling at 
least one-fourth of its live weight; the liquid, consisting 
of the water drank, in part at least, ajid more especially 
of a large amount of saliva secretions swallowed witli 
the food; and sufficient in yolume to float the whole 
mass of solids. When from anv cause, as eatino- a l.irire 
amount ot very coai'se, heavy, dry tood, m coimection 
with enforced iVisting from water, the liquid contents of 
this organ become insufficient to float the sr.lids, its con- 
dition is ahnormal, and the life of the animal is in dan- 
ger. When such is the case there can be no rumination. 
What is popularly termed "the loss of the cud" is sim- 
ply this, and uidess rumination is restored inflamniatir.n 
r)f a dangerous character ensues. 

The use of the 3d stomach (omasum) is simply to trit- 
urate and reduce still further the food that has already 
been partially disintegrated, by rumination, and the 
macerfiting processes of the flrst stomach. The muscu- 
lar folds seize and I'etain the solid particles and keep \\\) 
the grinding process, until they become too flue to be 
caught and retained by the barbed papilhe. The food, 
compressed between its muscular folds loses a large por- 
tion of its liquids, and becomes, normally. Arm and par- 
tially dry, though never quite so in [lealth. When dried 
so as to adhere to the tolds and bring ofl* the cuticle lay- 
er on its su7"face, it is abnormal, and "im]iactir>n of the 
inam'folds" has commenced.. 



The aboinasnm or 4:th stomach is similar in most re- 
spects to the true stomach in other animals, and per- 
forms similar functions. Its gastric juices, acting on the 
nitroo-enous elemeuts of the tboci, transforms them into 
peptoms, a fine milkv liquid, fitted to be absorbed by 
and added to the vital fluids. The nmcous folds in this 
stomach, covered as they are by peptic glands, greatly 
increase the gastric secretions, and enable the animal 
promptly to digest the large mass of coarse food, so beau- 
tifully elaborated by the act of rumination, and the ac- 
tion of the other stomachs. 

When the animal subsists upon coarse food the act of 
rumination is essential to both health and life. 

The conditions essential to rumination are, 1st, a suffi- 
ciency of liquids in the rumen and reticulum to float the 
solids; 2d, absence of all excitement; and, lastly, a fair 
degree of health. 

When the animal subsists upon meal, or other food, 
which, from its nature, does not require remastication, 
rumination of necessity ceases altogether; and it becomes 
a matter of profound interest to know just wherein the 
process of the digestion of fine food differs from that of 
coarse. We have traced the latter through all of its es- 
sential stages, as far as the limited physiological knowl- 
edge of the presen.t age extends in that direction; and in 
a closing article to this little treatise upon the digestion 
of ru.minants, v/ill briefly consider 

THE digp:stion of meal. 

Only three years ago the theory of the direct passage 
of meal and all ground feed into the abomasum, when 
fed alone, was almost universally acquiesced in by the 
best agricultural authorities of this country. Its adoption 
by me, without personal investigation, in the first edition 
of ''Meal Feeding and Animal Digestion," was a grave 
error. The evidence upon w^hich the popular theory has 
been rejected in the present edition, I herewith submit 
to the intelligent reader. 



i i 



The following cominuiiicatioii over my signature, which 
was wddely published in 1875, explains itself: 

"I am most happy to be able to announce a discovery 
con.nected with meal feeding w^hich, although of no great 
j^ractical importance in itself, will nevertheless create not 
a little surprise with the great body of thinking men of 
this country and perhaps of the world. It has been sup- 
posed ever since Profs. L. B. Arnold and E. W. Stewart 
made their discovery of meal lodged in the fourth stom- 
ach immediately after feeding and slaughtering the ani- 
mal, that M. Flourens and M. Collin w^ere both mistaken 
in their conclusions about its passage into the rumen, 
notwithstanding the facilities which those gentlemen had 
for their very interestiup- investi2:ations. It will be re- 
collected that each of these men established openings in 
the side of ruminating animals, by which the}' were ena- 
bled to place the hand beneath the cesophagean canal in 
the first and second stomachs while the animal was eat- 
ing, and thus, by the sense of touch alone, decided that 
the meal passes into the rumen, the same as coarse food. 
But w^hen it was aimounced here by the gentlemen above 
referred to th^it the meal fed immediately before slaugh- 
tering w^as found in the abomasum, it was supposed that 
the French gentlemen referred to were mistaken in their 
observations, and that the evidence of the sense of sight 
was to be accepted as cojiclusive. At the suggestion of 
Prof. Arnold, 1 have Just slaughtered an exclusive meal 
diet beef, and examined the contents of the several stom- 
achs, feeding meal innnediately before killing. I found 
none of the meal last fed in either the manifolds or fourth 
stomach, but all, or nearly all, lodged in the rumen, 
where I found an accumulation of several days' diet — 1 
should judge from five to seven. In the fourth stomach 
was a quantity of meal, I should judge about the amount 
I had been in the habit of feeding at one time, in an ad- 
vanced stage of digestion. This is probably the first ani- 
mal ever slaughtered upon an exclusive meal diet, and 
the evidence is overwhelming as to the passage of the 
meal into the rumen and its subjection there to the law 



I 



IS 

of rottitiou which governs th;it orgmi in tlie article of 
coarse food. It remains to ])e discovered liow, perhaps 
in the hundreds of examinations made within a few 
years past, and, with a single exception, the same result 
obtained, the meal found its way into the a])omasum. I 
see but one solution of the question. It will probably be 
found upon further research that when the rumen is full, 
or nearly so, of coarse food, the meal passes on to the 
third stomach and into the fourth, while it takes the 
place of coarse food witli animals fed exclusively on 
meal. The death struggles of the animal in question 
were very violent; and if in any case the meal just swal- 
lowed betbre killing could be forced by those sti'uggles 
trom the tirst to the fourth stomach, I think it must have 
produced that result in this instance." 

In Decend)er ot the same year, I made another test, 
slaughtering in this instance a two-\'ear-old bull fattened 
in the ordinary way, but placed upon an exclusive meal 
diet two weeks before the killing. Two quarts of meal 
was fed immediately before death. The death struggles 
in this case were very violent and protracted, manure 
being voided freely at their termination. In cutting the 
throat, the gullet was severed, and n large proportion of 
the merd hist i'ed was ejected. (This may serve to ex- 
plain the difficulty which s<)me have experienced, in find- 
ing the meal fed under similar circumstances in any of 
the stomachs). To prevent any commingling of the con- 
tents of the different stomachs, the communication be- 
tween them was secured by tying, and they were re- 
moved before the carcass was raised for dressing. In the 
rumen were found oidy slight traces of the meal last fed, 
but it contained, the same as the tirst animal slaughtered, 
several days' rations of meal, commingled with a small 
quantity of hay, which had apparently been remastica- 
ted once. The reticulum contained a few quarts, identi- 
cal with the contents of the rumen. The omasum was 
closely packed with meal, and ahnormally dry, (proi3a- 
bly owning to the animaVs not having any water for 60 
hours before slaughtering). Two days longer (])erhaj)s 



79 

lesy) entbrced jibstiiience from water, would probtibly, in 
this case, have produced "impaction of the manifolds." 
The abomasum — 4th stomach — was tilled bej'ond its nor- 
mal condition, with contents identical with those of the 
rumen, (careful microscopic examinations of botli beino- 
nuide) which had been forced by the violent death struo;- 
gles through the dcmi-canal, ^ast tlie omasttm (not 
through it) into that organ. The normal contents (\\' the 
abomasum — meal partially digested by the action of the 
gastric juices — was found in the duodenum; and again, 
the normal contents of the duodenum — chyme were 
tbund ill the adjoining intestines. The death struggles 
doubtless occasioned this abnormal condition of the di- 
gestive organs; and may serve to account for tlie contra- 
dictory reports of others, who have fed meal before 
slaughtering, and made examinatic)iis of the several 
stomachs. 

In March, 1877, another animal (a tw<vyear-old heif- 
er) fed exclusively upon meal for 12 weeks previous, was 
killed, having been fattened upou scalded meal for 6 
weeks (the first instance of the kind upon record). Ade- 
(piate measures were taken to prevent her eating anything 
but her meal rations, during the last named period — meal 
was fed 30 minutes before slaughtering, none having been 
fed for 24 hours previously. The killing in this instance 
was done without any manifestation of death struggles, but 
the gullet was again severed, with the same results, as \(i 
the meal last fed, as related in the previous experiment. 
It was mostly ejected through the opening along with 
other contents of the rumen, while the animal was dying. 
The stomachs and duc>denum of this animal were all 
found in their normal condition under an exclusive meal 
diet. Several days' rations \\'ere in the rumen, contain- 
ing no traces whatever of coarse food; the liquids bear- 
ing apparently the same proportion to the solids, as are 
found in this organ when the animal has been fattened 
in the usual way upon coarse food; l)ut with this differ- 
ence, occasioned probably by the richness of the meal 
diet; after standing a few hours, it had the appearance 



80 

of milk, was veiT sweet and strongly impregnated with 
starch, showing the action of the saliva secretions, and 
the effect of the macerating processes. As the meal last 
fed had been ejected as before related, its presence was 
scarcely distinguishable either in this or the reticulum, 
none of it being found in the other stomachs. Upon 
handling the stomachs, in their removal from the abdom- 
inal cavity, the contents of the Urst passed freely into 
the second, and vice versa\ that this is their usual nor- 
mal condition, under all kinds of diet, I am satisiied; 
and thiidv Prof. Arnold mistaken in his supposition of 
any thing difterent, or that "meal fed alone stays in the 
rumen much longer than coarse food." When hay or 
grass alone is fed, the rumen contains several days' ra- 
tions; and my observations confirm my conviction that 
a cow will hold her rations under the macerating pro- 
cesses of the rumen, just as long, with one kind of diet 
as another; and that the principal office of the reticulum, 
is the separation of the coarse food from the fine, send- 
ing the tbrmer back for remastication, and the latter 
downward, according to the demands of appetite. Nor 
can I conceive that as a rule, anything is left to chance 
in the complicated process of digestion. With these re- 
marks I will add, that the stomachs of this animal, after 
being carefully examined and their contents noted, were 
forwarded to Prof. Arnold, for examination and report, 
which was duly received by me, as follows: 

EocHESTEE, N. Y., March 23d, 1877. 

"Mr. L. W. Miller— Dear Sir: Yours of the 16th 
" inst. was duly received. The stomach came to hand 
" in good order, and has been carefully examined. It 
" was in every respect healthy and sound. The course 
" of the meal was evidently through the rumen; and in 
" general followed the sanae course as herbaceous food. 
" The chief diiference I notice between this and ordinary 
" stomachs lies in apparently blotting out the distinctive 
" functions of the first and second stomachs. They were 
" evidently, in this case, doina; the same duty. 



81 

•'Takiiio; voiir iriejisurement of the iiiiid removed from 
*' the rumen before it came to me, it must have contained 
'' when killed, about 65 lbs. of li<|uid and solid matter, 
*' which was sufficient to give it a comfortable disteiision 
*' that would prevent any feeling of uneasiness. There 
" was no need of analyzing contents of rumen: the iiq- 
" uid is not different from that I have always found, in 
" the stomachs of healthy animals, not filled with coarse 
'•' herbage. 

"The inferences 1 draw from the examination of this 
" stomach and its contents are: 

"First — that the animal was healthy and comfortable. 

"Second — that the meal took the course of herbaceous 
"food. 

"Third — 1hat meal fed alone stays in the rumen niucli 
" longer than coarse food. 

"Fourth — that meal fed alone digests mucli more thor- 
" ono'hlv than when the enero'ies of the stomach are di- 
" vided between meal and coarse herbao-e. 

"Fifth — the animal did not ruminate. 

"I have sent a statement to the Tribune'"', which will 
" ])robably jippear al)out week after next, whicli see. 
" Many thanks for your kindness in sending the pack- 
" age. Respectfullv, 

Signed, L.'B. AENOLD." 

In conclusion, 1. would further state, that during the 
season of 1876, I made careful microscopic examinations 
of the stomachs of 15 different beeves, not meal fed, feed- 
ing meal just l)efore the killing and in every instance 
finding the meal which <lid not escape through the gul- 
let in slaughtering, in the rumen, commingled vrith the 
coarse food in that receptacle. I found too that the noi- 
nial contents of the ab<^»masum, in a partially digested 
state, the food being grass and hay, so closely resembled 



* Note. — Thn Tribuiif^ liii>! publishcMl .so ni.-uiy libels {igaiiisr 
iiiOiil feo(lii)g- ;ni(l its juulior, that ir could nor aftbi'd to print 
any tliinu' favorable, even if it eani(? fr-oin ilic pen of Prof. Ai-- 
nold. \\ jiolds prejiidire above TRUTH, speaking- only nnder tin; 
dict.-ite.'i of tlie former. His article in ver ;ip[)eared. 



82 

meal, that it vviis difticult to ciistingiiish the one from the 
other, with the unaided eye. 

It would appear then that the only difference between 
digestion of coarse and tine food, is the continued remas- 
tication of the former, until it becomes so tine, like the 
meal, and is lit for the finishing process of the nninifolds. 

It would also ap])ear that feeding meal alone insures 
better digestion than mixing with coarse food; and that 
all that has been written and said against my system of 
feeding has had no foundation in scientific principles. 
Its direct passage into the abomasum, when fed alone, is 
a myth, and the Gutting^ steaming and mixing 2>T0Gess in 
order to get the meal into the ricmen, is a great loss of 
both labor and caloric; as it finds its way into that re- 
ceptacle no matter how fed. Finally, the established 
fact that three quarts of meal, as I feed it, is fully the 
equivalent of 20 lbs. of good hay as ordimirily fed, sim- 
plities the whole subject; reducing it to dollars and 
cents. The question is which costs the most, the meal 
or hav ? 



XoTE. — In writing the closing article, "The Stonuichs 
of Ruminants and their Functions,'' the author has cop- 
ied in part Prof. Law's article published in the June 
(1875) number of Live Stock Journal. 



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